Work Text:
Beidou watches as the snow continues to fall outside the kitchen window, blanketing the world in white. With a sigh, she checks her phone again, desperately waiting for that notification. But no, Teyvat University has not declared it a snow day yet, even though there’s supposed to be over a foot of snow coming down.
“Have they called it yet?” Ningguang asks as she steps into the kitchen. She’s bundled up in a sweater and a jacket, as she hates the cold and has never been able to stand it. Beidou hands her a thermos of tea she prepared to help warm her up, “Thank-you dear.”
“Nope, there’s still school today,” Beidou sighs and pockets her phone. She glances back out the window as the falling snow, “That’s gonna be a bitch to get through. Wish we could just stay inside and cuddle all day.”
“That would be warmer, for sure. I still haven’t gotten my space heater out for my office,” Ningguang says with a frown, slowly sipping her tea.
“I’ll get it out of the basement for you to take in later,” Beidou promises with a kiss on Ningguang's forehead. “Right now I’ve got to start my car and get all this white bullshit off of it.”
Beidou grabs her jacket and begins to put it on when Ningguang grabs her keys and tosses them at her, “Can you start mine too?”
She snatches them out of the air but pauses and stares at Ningguang, “. . . No.”
“No?” Ningguang repeats. “You’re gonna make me go out there in the cold?”
“You’re going to have to go outside eventually but that’s not the point,” Beidou begins. “But your car handles terribly in the snow. It’ll be safer if you drive with me in my truck.”
Despite working at the same place, they drive to work separately as a part of their ‘keep work and home separate’ rule. In the beginning, they thought that car-pooling wouldn’t be a problem, but any arguments that they had during the day seemed to bleed into the car ride and follow them home. So, they drive separately to use the car ride to decompress and they can come home without any of the burdens of work.
Ningguang frowns, “But we usually drive separately. And I have a late class today.”
“I care more about your safety,” Beidou says. “I don’t mind waiting. And we can call a ceasefire for today. I won’t annoy you if you don’t annoy me.”
“That’s fair,” Ningguang sighs. She walks over to Beidou’s side and kisses her cheek, “Thank-you, love.”
“It’s no problem. Now, I gotta start my car or else we’re gonna be late.”
It’s been a long time since Beidou and Ningguang have driven to work together. Beidou sighs as she slams the door shut, the warmth of her car welcoming. She glances over as Ningguang joins her (wearing her thickest winter coat) and closes the door.
“Ready?” Beidou checks.
“Ready,” Ningguang nods.
Beidou shifts into drive and slowly pulls out of their driveway, taking it slow at first as she gets accustomed to the snow. It’s quiet, unlike her usual morning drives when she blasts music. She knows there’s some boring radio talk show Ningguang likes, so she offers, “You can turn on the radio to whatever station you want.”
Ningguang raises a brow, “Even if it’s that one talk show you hate?”
“I say that knowing that you’re going to turn that show on,” Beidou counters. “Go on, babe.”
She does so, changing the station to a boring NPR-style talk show where all the hosts talk in droning voices. It’s the type of show that puts Beidou to sleep, but Ningguang keeps it at a low enough volume that she can tune it out. Easier to focus on driving then.
They make it to the college in one piece, and Beidou checks her phone one last time to see if the higher-up’s have changed their mind. When she sees that they haven’t, she sighs and turns to Ningguang, “Well, have a good day, babe.”
“You too,” Ningguang gives her a soft smile, but it turns into a soft frown when she asks, “You’re sure you’re fine with waiting for me to finish my late class?”
“Yeah, of course,” Beidou nods. “I’ll be waiting in my office, okay?”
“Okay.”
“And try not to freeze today.”
With that, they step out of the car into the freezing air and become Prof. Crux and Prof. Lin.
Beidou doesn’t see Ningguang all day. It’s probably safer, so neither of them feel tempted to pick a fight over their latest papers or teaching styles on a day they called a ceasefire.
She’s in her office later than she usually is, as the powers that be never called a snow day despite the foot of snow on the ground, as she’s waiting for Ningguang. Personally, she hates working this late so she’s watching a TV show on her laptop.
At 7:41, there’s a knock on her door. Beidou quickly rips her headphones and sees Ningguang standing in her doorway, “My class is done.”
“Alright, give me a second and I’ll be ready to go,” Beidou quickly closes her laptop and shoves it into her bag before shrugging her jacket on. Ningguang watches her silently, until she’s ready.
The walk to the car is quiet as well since they’re still on campus. Her truck’s covered with snow, and maybe she should have run out and warmed up her car, but it honestly didn’t cross her mind.
“Hold on, you can sit in the car while it warms up and I’ll brush the snow off,” Beidou offers, unlocking her truck and getting a bit of snow on her when she opens the door. She sputters a bit when some gets in her face, causing Ningguang to laugh.
“You didn’t think to do this while you were waiting for me?” Ningguang says.
“Yeah,” Beidou admits with a shrug. “Maybe it’s because I didn’t know when your class was going to end. Maybe it’s because I just forgot. The world may never know.”
The levity between them feels nice if a bit out of place on campus. She brushes the snow away from Ningguang’s door and lets her in, moving on to make quick work of the rest of the truck. The car’s sufficiently warmed once she’s inside, even if Ningguang looks like she’s still shivering.
“Still cold?” Beidou checks.
“A little,” Ningguang admits.
It’s clear that they’ve already shifted back into just Beidou and Ningguang, so she doesn’t mind grabbing Ningguang’s hand and rubbing them to try to warm them. Beidou glances up, “Better?”
“Better,” Ningguang nods. “Since it’s late, should we stop and get food on the way home?”
“Sure, what do you want?” Beidou asks as she hooks her phone up to the AUX cord.
“What are you doing?” Ningguang asks, watching her scroll through her music library.
“Nothin’,” Beidou doesn’t bother trying to hide her smile. “No really babe, what do you want?”
“Beidou,” Ningguang begins to threaten. “You better not be trying to play Christmas music-”
“Friday night, I crashed your party. Saturday, I said I’m sorry-”
“-Sunday came and trashed me out again!” Beidou begins, turning to Ningguang to dramatically sing along. “I was only having fun, wasn’t hurting anyone, and we all enjoyed the weekend for a change!”
“You’re ridiculous,” Ningguang rolls her eyes, but the smile on her face betrays her feelings.
It’s rare that they get to drive together, considering that they drive to work separately, so Beidou decided to take the chance to play the song she considers ‘their song’. Ningguang denies it, but it does kinda work for them-especially considering all the times Ningguang’s called her insane.
“You may be right!” Beidou continues to sing. “I may be crazy! But it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for! Turn out the light, don’t try to save me! You may be wrong for all I know, but you may be right! Come on, sing along, Ning!”
“We’re sitting in the middle of the campus parking lot at night, as snow accumulates around our car, where anyone can see us,” Ningguang crosses her arms. “Just drive, Beidou.”
Beidou finally shifts into drive and pulls out of the parking lot, but doesn’t give up, “Babe, I wanna hear your voice.”
Now that they’re on the road, away from campus, Ningguang decides to indulge Beidou’s earnest request, “You may be right, I may be crazy.”
“But it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for!” Beidou joins in. “Turn out the light, don’t try to save me! You may be wrong for all I know, but you may be right!”
Ningguang laughs as the chorus repeats, “You’re ridiculous.”
“You love me,” Beidou teases.
“I do,” Ningguang takes Beidou’s free hand and holds it between the seats, “Now, I am actually hungry Beidou, where should we get dinner from?”
“Do you just wanna go to Wanmin instead of deliberating about it?” Beidou suggests.
“That’s perfect. We have to get it to go because it’s way too cold to wait for your car to warm up again.”
“Then call ahead so it’ll be ready when we get there.”
“Good idea.”
“I’m full of them, you know. You really should listen to them more often.”
“Don’t push your luck.”
“Alright, so,” Beidou places their carryout on the kitchen counter as Ningguang switches from her winter coat to her at-home jacket. “Let me go get your space heater so I don’t forget about it and so you don’t have to freeze in your office tomorrow.”
“Do you want to eat on the couch?” Ningguang asks, eyeing some of the blankets she pulled out earlier this week. “It’ll be warmer . . .”
“Yeah, and you can pick something to watch. I think it’s your turn anyways,” she kisses Ningguang’s cheek before heading to the basement, “Be right back, babe.”
“Don’t take too long or else I’ll eat all of your noodles!”
Beidou rushes downstairs, knowing that Ningguang’s threat is good, and grabs the space heater from storage. She lugs it upstairs and leaves it by the door, quick to return to the couch with Ningguang. She hops onto the cushion, nearly causing her wife to spill her food, “That was pretty fast. Gotta be a record or somethin’.”
“I would say or something,” Ningguang grumbles as she resettles herself. Beidou cuddles closer to her as she begins to eat, waiting as Ningguang picks out something to watch. Unconsciously, Ningguang leans closer to her too.
Ningguang chooses some artsy-fartsy movie to watch, the kind Beidou would never touch but she deals with because it makes her wife happy. As the movie begins, with a blanket over her legs and warm food, she still shivers.
“Still cold?” Beidou asks. She puts an arm around her shoulders, though that makes it a bit harder to eat.
“Yeah,” Ningguang sighs. “It better be a snow day tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll be able to stand another day even with the space heater.
“Well, it’s a good thing you’ve got your love to keep you warm,” Beidou adds with an exaggerated wink.
“You’re terrible.”