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“Come on, Xiao, you HAVE to come with me!” Hu Tao begged, hanging off one of his arms and tugging at it in the general direction of where she wanted to drag him this time. “I can’t go to a maid cafe by myself, I’ll look like a pervert!”
“So you want me to look like a pervert instead?” He scoffed. “Best case scenario, someone thinks I dragged my girlfriend to a maid cafe? Humiliating.”
“That’s only if someone thinks you’re classy enough to land me to begin with,” Hu Tao dismissed, waving one hand lazily in the air. “And with a face that gloomy, everyone can tell at a glance that I’m too good for you, so you’ll be fine.”
“That’s… really not what I’m worried about.”
She rolled her eyes and started marching off into the city, expecting him to follow. “Well I don’t see what you ARE worried about. ‘Cool’ guys like you aren’t supposed to care about their reputations, right? So suck it up and come to a maid cafe to make fun of our friends with me!”
Well. At least letting Hu Tao tease Xiangling and Xinyan in their new job was a halfway worthy cause, even if he was only there so Hu Tao had someone to hide behind when she inevitably tried to peek up Xiangling’s skirt and faced Xinyan’s wrath for it. He wasn’t sure how he’d ended up with such… Odd girls constantly fluttering around in his periphery, but they said they liked him because he was honest and defended girls’ honor like it was still cool to be chivalrous, and Zhongli kept telling him he needed a social life if he wanted to be a healthy college student, so he just sort of… Ended up with them.
He wasn't only friends with girls, for the record. They were just the most… Difficult ones to argue with, and therefore the ones he ended up getting dragged into weird things like Maid Cafes for. He supposed, if nothing else came from today, he would at least get to see the look on his foster father’s face when he told him just where his “basic human socializing” had taken him this time.
The thing about Hu Tao, is, though… Well. She never actually said which of their friends had gotten a job at a maid cafe. She had just burst in with the news that they had to go Right Now, and let Xiao draw his own conclusions, which were, incidentally, incorrect.
“Welcome to Healing Cure Maid Cafe~” Cooed the maid who greeted them at the jingle of the door’s bell, and oh Jesus CHRIST Hu Tao, you could have maybe thought to warn him for even half a second that all the maids were actually boys in dresses and that Xiangling and Xinyan were absolutely Not who they were there to make fun of.
The host…ess? Who greeted them at the door was exceptionally lovely, dark skin and a basic medical patch over one eye that for some reason added to his charm instead of detracting from it. “May I ask if the Master and Mistress here have any special requests?”
Hu Tao’s hand shot up like she was in class. “If they’re available, we want Xingqiu and Chongyun both to serve us!” She elbowed Xiao in the side meaningfully. “He’ll pay extra for the second server, he doesn’t mind tipping twice!”
Oh THAT was why she’d dragged him along. What a witch. Why was he supposed to be glad to have her in his life again..?
Whatever. Chongyun at least would be so embarrassed to be seen he’d want to get them out of there as quickly as possible, so all he had to worry about was how long Hu Tao and Xingqiu could banter for, which… In his experience, was… Actually rather a long time. Shit.
“I’m sorry, but both of them are occupied with other customers at the moment. If you’d like, you can wait, or we can set you up with a different maid?”
“Hm,” Hu Tao considered briefly, before grinning. “Both! We can just change tables when they’re free right? Don’t worry we aren’t afraid to pay!”
“How much money do you think I HAVE?” Xiao spat, foot thumping in irritation, but Hu Tao waved him off.
“Your new stepdad works for Northland Bank or something, right? He’s probably loaded. Just steal from him when you get home.”
“I hate you,” Xiao said flatly, as the host led them to a small table in the back of the cafe to wait for their server to greet them. On the other hand, she was right - Xiao wasn’t naturally one to steal anything from anyone no matter what the circumstances, but Childe actually kind of had it coming.
The cafe was full mostly of men, with a few scattered fujoshi giggling in groups and blushing hotly when their scantily clad servers called them ‘mistress’ and ‘lady.’ He scowled, watching one white-haired customer’s hand sneak up to tug on the skirt of his fox-eared server, wondering if that sort of thing was allowed in here or if this guy was just some special kind of douchebag. The maid’s fennec ears stood up - oh they were real, how about that - and he swatted the hand away, blushing but not missing a beat in his service.
Hu Tao was leering at where she could see Chongyun bowing deeply to a pair of fawning teenage girls, and Xiao was just settling into his seat for what looked like an incredibly long afternoon when -
When…
Aether .
It couldn’t be. But it was. Xiao would know that face anywhere, even if he hadn’t seen him in almost a year, not since they’d graduated high school, not since… Well. since nothing, because Xiao had only had only ever found an excuse to speak to the other boy a few times here and there back in those days, even though they’d been in the same martial arts club and Xiao could have made up any excuse to ask him to train together if he hadn’t been too awkward, and too terrified of his own feelings for other boy to even know what to do with them.
The first time he’d seen Aether Xiao had been in a bad mood, distracted and temperamental from an argument he’d had with Bosacius. As a result Aether had utterly handed Xiao’s ass to him in their match, and when Xiao had blinked up into Aether’s sunny smiling face from the floor the boy had told Xiao that he’d love to fight him again sometime when Xiao wasn’t so distracted.
And at first that had only been interesting to Xiao, it hadn’t been anything as absurd as the idea of love at first sight, but… Watching Aether, seeing him laughing and making friends in the club around him where Xiao only ever had a small handful of people who tolerated his presence, watching him try so hard at everything he did from studying to training to running errands for classmates and teachers… Well. It hadn’t taken Xiao long to develop the first and only crush he’d ever had in his life.
And here he was again now. Dressed in a fluffy miniskirt and yellow bunny ears, looking more like a living fantasy than any of Xiao’s actual fucking fantasies, coming up to their own table and bowing deeply and Holy Archons Xiao was going to have a fucking heart atack right there on the spot. Because it was Aether . In a maid uniform. And Xiao couldn’t even hide anywhere or pretend he hadn’t seen him, because he was serving Xiao and Hu Tao’s own fucking table.
“W-Welcome home, Masters! Uh, Master and Lady!” Aether stuttered out, a red blush taking over his features rapidly. “How can I be of service today?”
Xiao sat frozen, unable to speak as he regressed back into his antisocial high school days and stared at Aether with what he could only hope was a blank expression that revealed nothing of the tornado of emotions he was actually feeling.
“Are you okay?” Hu Tao asked with a frown. “You look kind of sick all of the sudden.”
Or not.
“I’m fine.” He was not fine. He was dying, because he thought that the year since he’d seen Aether would be enough time for him to get over his silly feelings, but… Apparently fucking not, because the butterflies in his stomach had flared up again and were threatening to turn into wasps if he did anything so much as breathe right now.
And yet, for some reason, he couldn’t quite stop himself from blurting out stupidly, “I was just surprised. I didn’t expect to… See you. Here.”
Aether, for his part, also kind of looked like he’d swallowed a hornet’s nest. “I… Yeah, no kidding! I haven’t seen you since graduation, and I have to say, this is um. Well. Kind of the last place I thought I’d run into you again, ahaha.”
Hu Tao looked between them, and mercifully, took pity on them both, even though she’d gone to a school in a completely different city and had literally no idea who Aether was. “I brought him here! Our friends just got jobs in your wonderful little establishment and we came to cheer them on!”
Xiao averted his gaze, because if he looked at Aether in a maid dress for much longer, some sort of humiliating bodily function might threaten to… Come up . He felt like he was fourteen again or something, Archons help him.
“Ahh, that makes more sense! Well, not that I know you well enough to know you’re not into this kind of thing, I guess,” he laughed again, short and awkward, and made a light groaning sound like he, too, kind of wanted to hide in a hole until he died. “Oh shoot, I’m sorry. I’m not being a very professional maid right now.”
“It’s fine,” Xiao said, and found himself unable to look away from Aether for so long when he was directly in front of him. And also like. Speaking to him. “I… think we were both caught a little off guard.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Aether chuckled, scratching behind his ear. “If I’d known you were moving here, too, I’d have asked you for your number, so we’d both have someone to talk to in a new city!”
And wouldn’t that have been nice. Xiao had had to leave all of his friends behind when he got into university, and it had taken him months to talk to even one person. In fact, the real reason he followed Hu Tao into whatever Hell she felt like dragging him into on a daily basis was out of gratitude, because she'd taken the initiative and talked to him first, and then not given up like a reasonable person would have when he constantly brushed off her overtures of friendship until he’d finally relented and let himself be absorbed into her friend group.
He hoped Aether had made new friends, too. It seemed impossible for him not to have, with how people seemed to gravitate towards him like he was the sun and everyone else was caught in his orbit. Xiao hadn’t met Aether’s sister more than the times she’d appear to cheer her brother on in tournaments, but even in those brief encounters, it had been obvious that she was much the same type. Twin stars, shining side by side, entire solar systems worth of friends and loved ones hovering at their side.
To Xiao, it had always seemed like there was no room for him in Aether’s life like that. That he simply didn’t need someone as depressing as Xiao around when he could have his pick of anyone else in the school for company. But he hadn’t considered that maybe Aether would be moving too, going somewhere where he had no friends yet and perhaps could have used a familiar face for comfort. Xiao cursed himself for not being that person for him, knowing now that he’d had the chance.
“I didn’t know you two knew each other!” Hu Tao said in delight. “Xiao, you didn’t tell me you had friends!”
“Oh, Xiao was really well-liked in high school, actually!” Aether responded cheerfully, the handsome blush that had never left his face making his features glow. “Everyone on the team really admired him!”
“What?” Xiao scoffed automatically, taken aback. “Don’t make fun of me. It’s rude to lie.”
Aether laughed lightly, sparkling like bells. “I’m not teasing, it’s the truth! All the girls in school had crushes on you, you were like, the coolest guy in our whole town.”
Xiao couldn’t believe in a reality where he was well liked, but Hu Tao was laughing, nodding along and chiming in with, “I get what you mean! I’ve only been friends with him a few months and I swear half our university has come up to me asking if I thought Xiao would give them their phone number!”
“What?” Xiao asked again, eyebrows furrowing. “Have you been giving out my phone number to strangers?”
“No, you paranoid nerd, I’m more trustworthy than that!” She waved him off. “See it’s that attitude of yours, that’s why everyone’s too scared to talk to you themselves and try to go through me like I’m your mom or something!” She turned to Aether, poking at Xiao’s face and declaring, “You think he needs to be less gloomy too, right?”
Aether’s smile was pure sunshine, eyes bright as he answered casually and without thinking, “Not at all, actually. Rather than being gloomy, it seems to me like Xiao puts a lot of thought into everything, you know? He was always very mindful of everyone on the team, and I think puts a lot of regard into people’s feelings. He may not come off as very friendly at first, but he’s never intentionally mean, and it’s obvious anyone who does get close to he cares for very deeply! And um. I don’t know, I guess I just like Xiao the way he is!”
Xiao could feel the heat of a blush creeping up his neck and onto his face, and he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing managed to come out.
Hu Tao grinned like the Devil, leering at Xiao and flickering her eyes back to Aether knowingly. “Wow, it seems to me like you two have a lot to catch up on! Lucky for me I think Xingqiu’s table just opened up, actually, so I’m gonna leave you two old friends in each other’s capable hands,” she stood up, patting Xiao on the back. “Don’t leave without me! I still need you to foot the bill, I didn’t bring my wallet!”
“You’re the worst,” Xiao said flatly, watching her flutter off to tug on Xingqiu’s apron strings, turning back only to shoot him a wink and an entirely unsubtle thumbs up. Traitor.
“She seems nice,” Aether said without a hint of irony, proving he really could see the best in anyone. “I’m glad you’ve made new friends, since you came to the city.”
“...Have you?” Xiao asked tentatively. “Made new friends, too?”
Aether nodded cheerfully. “I’ve made a lot, yeah! I didn’t know anyone at first, but Lumine told me a good way to meet people was to get a job! Although, I actually was looking for a more normal part time job when I got scouted by the manager, Mr. Kaeya. He and the owner are both really nice, though, and aside from making friends I’ve managed to save up a lot of money, too!”
Aether blinked for a moment, blushing red again and bowing out of nowhere. “Oh - Uh, speaking of which, I’ve been here a few minutes and totally forgot to ask for your order! Is there anything I can serve you today, Master?”
Xiao felt his own flush return at being called such an absurd title by Aether of all people, but quickly shook it off. “I don’t need anything.” Except then he wouldn't have an excuse to stay at Aether’s table and keep talking to him. “I’ll just have a coffee,” he amended.
Aether smiled at him again, all butterflies and rainbows as he confirmed, “Black, right? I’ll be right back with that!”
He bowed again, flouncing off to grab Xiao the drink he didn’t need, and left Xiao alone to question the life choices that had brought him to this moment as he watched the little cotton bunny tail sewn into the back of Aether’s skirt bounce as he walked.
He returned shortly with a coffee pot and cup on a serving tray, apparently so that he could lean into Xiao’s personal space while pouring the coffee for him. His braid fell over his shoulder to tickle Xiao’s arm, and he smelled like coconut shampoo and memories of first love, and Xiao needed to get his number before he left this cafe or he’d surely die of regret.
“Would Master Xiao like anything else? Something to eat, a service you’d like, or maybe we could play a game together?”
Not knowing what ‘service’ meant and not willing to let Aether go wait on anyone else just yet, Xiao agreed to a card game.
Aether sat down at the table across from him, shuffling and dealing the cards with nimble, elegant fingers, and Xiao dug around for something he could possibly say to start a conversation.
“Did you move because of school?” He ended up with, and Aether shook his head as he dealt out the cards, seven each and a draw pile between them.
“No. Well, sort of, I guess? Lumine got into the school she wanted here, and since I didn’t really care where I went I followed her here so she wouldn’t be alone. We’ve never been separated for that long, you know? I don’t know how I would have dealt with living without her all of the sudden.”
He arranged his cards into neat pairs, a set of twos and a set of jacks stacked neatly on the table. “Do you have any fours?”
“Go fish,” Xiao responded. “So you aren’t in school right now? And do you have any sixes?”
“I wasn’t when I moved here,” Aether agreed. “And no, go fish. I got this job first, and Lumine and the other servers all convinced me I should start applying for colleges nearby. I wasn’t sure I wanted to at first, but I decided eventually on a career path that sounded like something I wanted for myself, and so I started applying and got into one of the smaller schools.” He smiled up at Xiao. “Got any kings?”
Xiao pulled a king out of his hand and let it fall to the table between them. “May I ask what career path you settled on?”
Aether grinned. “Social work, actually. If I can help kids find good homes, that’s the job I want out of life.”
Xiao paused, looking into Aether’s amber eyes and finding them nothing but genuine. “That’s… a very noble cause.” Better than his anyway.
Speaking of which, the next inevitable question was, “So, what did you move to the city for? Did you get into a school you wanted?”
Xiao nodded. “Any eights?” He stalled with, and when Aether handed him a card he cleared his throat to continue, “I’m… in medical school, technically.”
“Technically?” Aether asked, with a cute little cock of his head. “Are you studying to be a doctor?”
Xiao shook his head. “No, Hu Tao and I are both studying. Well. Forensic pathology, actually.”
Aether blinked up at him. “Like, those CSI guys from the old TV shows?”
Xiao nodded. “Basically. I’m not good with people, but dead bodies don’t bother me at all, so I just sort of figured… Since my father is in the funeral business, it seemed like. A natural path to take with my skill set.”
“Do you… not enjoy it?” Aether asked, eyebrows furrowed together.
“It’s not really about enjoying it,” Xiao said honestly. “It’s more like, if I have something I can do, I want to find a way to use it to help people. So if I become a medical examiner, I can help people find closure with their loved ones, and... I don’t mind dedicating my life to that. And at least it stays interesting.”
Aether considered that for a moment, and Xiao was afraid he’d be put off by the less than traditional career course he’d chosen. But Then Aether smiled again, the one that was like pure distilled sunshine beaming right at Xiao, and said, “That’s actually… Really cool! Lumine and I watched a ton of those kinds of gruesome crime dramas as teenagers, and I think she ended up getting obsessed with True Crime podcasts lately, so you’re like… the real life version of those shows we watched growing up! I’m glad you found something that suits you, Xiao, I’d hate to see you stuck in a cubicle for some boring office job like I’m gonna be!”
“It’s not boring,” Xiao disagreed. “You… You want to help people, and you’re dedicating your life to that end. It’s honorable, and nothing to look down on.”
Aether blushed again, but his smile was soft as butter. “Thank you, Xiao. I know it’s kind of silly for me to care, but the fact that you approve somehow makes me feel a little better.”
Xiao’s organs were suddenly all relocating into his throat, and he choked on his own breath. “It’s nothing. I’m just being honest.”
“Yeah,” Aether said, voice light with a smile. “You always are.”
They finished the card game over some light conversation, nothing too interesting or important as much as just two old friends catching up. Xiao took up far more of Aether’s time than he should reasonably have been allowed to, not even noticing how much of the afternoon had passed until Hu Tao was slinking up to him with her palms out and a grin on her face, waiting expectantly for him to give her money to pay for bothering Xingqiu and Chongyun.
Before leaving though, Xiao still had to at least try to find a way to keep in contact with Aether. He cornered the bunny-eared maid on the way out the door, hoping it was too forward when he asked for Aether’s phone number.
“Oh, um,” Aether blushed, clutching his serving tray to his chest and averting his eyes. “We’re… not allowed to give out our personal information to customers in the cafe.”
Xiao’s heart sank, but Aether was already continuing with an even redder blush. “But… They can’t tell me what to do after I get off work. So maybe if you wanted to walk me home tonight, you could wait for me outside the cafe around nine?”
Xiao nodded. “I’ll be there,” he promised.
He wouldn’t miss this chance for the moon falling out of the sky.
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