Archive of Our Own ^beta

“So what do I do?”
Tang Xuan’s voice was a little shaky, He had been on posters,in union short films and even press conferences but a casual podcast seems like a bit much for him. All the previous things had been planned, he knew what he wanted to say but Helena had made him come totally unprepared. She didn’t want it to seem scripted.
“Relax. Just be yourself. It’ll be fine!”
Safe to say, in Tang Xuan’s opinion, he ended up being a little to himself.

……….

“Hello! Welcome to Helena’s Podcast…With Union Ops Chief Tang Xuan!”
“你好！wait sh- I’m sorry. Hello.”
Tang Xuan flushed bright red and moaned miserably, he then moaned again upon realising that moan would be used for disgraceful purposes. Helena giggled.
“Hello Xuan. Knee-How? Yeah no I can’t speak Chinese and I’m not willing to try again because I’ll end up saying something inappropriate! How are you?”
The light airiness of the woman’s voice helped calm Xuan’s nerves a little.
“F-Fine. How are you?” He felt a tone of happiness creep into his voice.
“I’m good!”

This wasn’t too bad. He could even say he was enjoying it more than Union work. That sounded bleak he realised, not everyone loves work. Was he weird? Anyway podcasts were not the place to question your character.

……….

“Is it difficult to be an Ops Chief and y’know have your online presence?” Tang Xuan asked
“It was a bit hard at first but I’ve got it pretty figured out now. What about you? Also curious say that in Chinese.”
“Uh-你呢. And well I guess It’s alright, never really thought about it.”
“When did you last take a break then?” Helena asked joyfully
“What do you consider a break? Like one day or longer?” Xuan hummed
“Uhh a day sure.” Helena looked a little confused that Xuan didn’t know how to define a break.
“Oh like a month and a half ago? I’m not counting.” Tang Xuan laughed
“That’s concerning. Ummm…”
Xuan raised his eyebrows and cocked his head and Helena eager to save the break conversation for when the two weren’t recording said “Has anyone told you that when you’re confused you cock your head like a dog?” Tang Xuan’s brain took a second to catch up.
“Hey! I do not!” He pouted.
“Okay Okay Okay. You can say something mean about me!” Helena giggled.
“Oh I don’t want to.”
“Just some banter come on!” Helena took a sip of the water next to her on the desk.
Tang Xuan was silent for a moment
“You look like you still say oriental.”
The water shot out of Helena’s mouth
“WHaT!?”

Fun yeah this was fun.

……….

Tang Xuan took off his jacket, brushing the sweat from his forehead.
“Never realised you were so freckly.”
Helena tittered.
“That isn’t even a word!” Xuan sniggered.
Fair enough his shoudler and arms looked like they were splattered with caramel paint, some of the spots were golden and white from his esper transformation.
“Woahh.. that’s cool.” Helena grinned
“Hm? What?”
“Those gold,white specks mixed in with your freckles. I know the audience can’t see it but it’s reallyyyyy pretty.”
“Thanks! I don’t really think of them that much” Tang Xuan beamed. He paused “Is this you do? It’s pretty fun. We’ve had at least 14 different conversations in the last hour.” It was true, he was having fun. Way more fun than conferences. There was both flow and randomness to the conversations, from one topic to another one. Tang Xuan hadn’t had this much fun in…. Quite a long time.

……….

Helena removed her headphones as she stopped recording. She sighed in satisfaction and Xuan awkwardly looked around the room.
“So… you’ve really not taken a break in long have you?” Helena confronted.
“I guess I haven’t.”
“You should. I mean you work enough to deserve thirty.”
Tang Xuan chuckled but stopped after a moment, appearing deep in thought. His mouth hung open in despondency.
“Maybe I should? ….I don’t know. It’s not really what I do. I like working.”
“Do you? I’ve known a lot of people who think they like something but they just feel an obligation to do something.”
“I-I don’t know.”
“None of us do.”
Helena smiled to Xuan and he returned the favour. This was fun.