Chapter Text
“Xuanli!!!!”
Xuanli cracked open his eyes. Why was the manager still yelling at him on his break?
“Xuanli!” The manager huffed as he slammed the door open. “A customer just called and said you never delivered their pizza. They’ve been waiting for an hour!”
Oh damn, Xuanli thought. So that’s why he’d felt like he had forgotten something. He almost said something about Papa John’s pizza not being worth getting mad over when the manager cut him off.
“When you get back out there, you deliver that damn pizza! Good lord, on all the days to have only one driver and it’s you.”
—-
Once Xuanli’s break ended and he beat his Subway Surfers record (which took a few extra minutes), he got back in his car and punched the customer’s address into his GPS. They were probably going to give him shit for letting their pizza get cold, but honestly Papa John’s unholy concoctions were disgusting either way. Xuanli made sure to check that the mystery slime the store called “garlic sauce” didn’t leave any suspicious looking stains on his backseat.
He made sure to honk at everyone that drove the speed limit on his way there. He texted Qingning that Laojun was picking her up today, which almost caused him to rear end somebody, so he honked at them too.
Then, he saw it.
That white van with “DOMINO’S” printed on it. Oh, to have a company vehicle, Xuanli thought. The Domino’s was a little further away, in a bigger city, so they were much better supplied than Xuanli’s store. Not to mention Domino’s was the superior brand altogether. Still, whenever he saw that truck, Xuanli felt a sense of Papa John’s pride that he never did otherwise. He felt the urge to defend his team, to make others respect the Papa John’s name.
He honked his horn for a good five seconds, then rolled down his window as he sped past the Domino’s van. “FUCK DOMINO’S!” he shouted, because he couldn’t think of anything else to say. The guy in the van didn’t seem to notice him. Xuanli was a little pissed at that.
As he turned down the residential streets, Xuanli realized he was still followed by the Domino’s van. Could he be delivering to the same street? Ha, wouldn’t that be funny. But Xuanli started to get nervous when he pulled right up to the house and the Domino’s guy did, too. There was no way. Right? No way this person ordered two pizzas from two different places.
Xuanli’s fears were confirmed when the long haired man got out of the van holding a pizza box and walked to the door Xuanli was supposed to deliver to. Not wanting to get shown up, Xuanli rushed to the back of his car to grab the pizza and ran up to the door just as it opened.
“Oh,” said the customer. “You both came. Guess I’ll take them both.” He chuckled as he grabbed the boxes and handed over cash to both delivery men.
“How—uh, did you not mean to order from both of us?” Xuanli asked.
“Well, even after I called Papa John’s with my concerns, it still took a while to confirm that my order was coming. In case it didn’t show up I ordered a pizza from Domino’s too,” the customer explained. “I was in kind of a hurry.”
Xuanli swallowed. It was his negligence that practically handed money to the enemy. Not only that, but he might’ve just permanently lost a customer who was crazy enough to have Papa John’s as their first choice.
The door shut, and Xuanli stole a glance at the man next to him. There was no emotion on his face at all. He looked completely calm. Xuanli found himself distracted by his long, silky hair and handsome face. Then, as quickly as he had arrived, the man turned around and walked back to his van.
“Wait!”
Xuanli barely registered his own voice but realized he had spoken when the other man turned around.
“What is it?”
Xuanli didn’t know why his heart was suddenly pounding. “This isn’t over, Domino’s man,” he declared. “Enjoy your final victory over Papa John’s while you can.”
Domino’s man smirked. “We’ll see about that. And my name is Wuxian.”
Oh wow, even his name was cool. Xuanli was blushing hard. “I’m Xuanli.”
Wuxian climbed into his van, still smiling mischievously.