Archive of Our Own

If Ren had it his way, he would be at home, whittling the hours away watching yet another documentary about something he would forget the moment his head hit his pillow for the night. Firefly, however, had sent him multiple pleading eye stickers, as well as a news article covering the Aurum Alley night market. So because it was her making the request, he found himself committing to her invite.

The two girls showed up eight minutes after he read the text.

“Sorry,” Firefly said sheepishly, “I took us on a wrong turn…”

Silver Wolf blew a bubblegum bubble. “You owe me an egg waffle for the extra trouble.”

“Okay…”

“Watch your step,” Ren said as he gestured towards the glowing night market stalls. 

“Of course!”

The darkness of the night quickly gave way to the rosy glow of fire and lantern LEDs. Hawkers called from left to right, enticing customers from all walks of life to take a gander at their wares—young lass these trinkets are all hand-crafted by yours truly, hey there pretty little miss this barrette would look beautiful in your hair, handsome sir come try out the finest grilled meat in the city. 

“Typical merchants,” Silver Wolf hummed. But the fact that she was actually taking in the sights of the world around her instead of the ones shown to her by her screens was a miracle in itself. 

“Do you want to eat something before the egg waffle?” Firefly asked after examining a hair pin display. 

“Hm, maybe a skewer.” Silver Wolf looked up at Ren. “What about you?”

“Anything is fine,” he grunted. 

“Well, I’m in the mood for something small to start…” Firefly’s eyes lit up. “Oh, there’s some options over here! Let’s see, cut fruit, shaved ice, oh, hmm, fish sausage sounds interesting…”

“Pass.”

“Okay then…oh, lamb skewers!”

“You want one?”

“Hmm, I’d like to give it a try. It smells really good.”

“Let’s get some then.” Silver Wolf leaned forward, holding up her phone to scan the payment code on the counter. “Boss, how much for two lamb skewers?”

“Twelve hundred credits altogether, pretty miss.”

“Huh? Wait, I can pay for my own!”

“Shush, it’s chump change.”

Firefly smiled sweetly at Silver Wolf. “Thank you.”

Silver Wolf huffed as she submitted the payment, but the smile she gave Firefly as she was given the second skewer said it all.

“Pretty good,” she concluded after a few bites.

“Delicious!” Firefly agreed. 

They walked through another row of stalls after that, Ren following the two girls in complete silence as they mapped out their options.

“There were two egg waffle stands over there. Any preference between the two?”

“They kinda looked the same to me. Oh, wait, hold on, one also has crepes.”

“Would you like that instead?”

“Nah, if we’re at a Xianzhou-style night market, then egg waffles are bound to restore more HP. And a stand that has too many options is bound to be master of none.”

“Ah, you have a point there.”

“What about you though?”

“Hm? Oh, I’m okay with getting from whichever one you prefer. I would like to have something more filling first though…”

“Lamb barely gave you five-percent, huh?”

“Yeah. I was also planning on making this trip my dinner run too…oh, there’s a fried rice stand! That sounds perfect. Blade, is that okay with you?”

Ren blinked slowly when he realized Firefly was looking up at him. 

“You haven’t eaten yet,” she said. “Would you like to get some rice?”

“They have noodles too.” Silver Wolf popped a stick of gum in her mouth. “If that’s more your taste.”

Ren blinked slowly at the two girls. 

“It’s fine,” he finally said. 

“Okay, rice it is!” 

Firefly led the way forward to the destination food stall, Silver Wolf tapping on her phone beside her and Ren trailing like a shadow after her. The stand, he noted on arrival, looked like many other food stalls, with a slightly worn-down metal body and shiny canvas signs stretched across every visible vertical surface. Express Eatery, the one down by his knees read, your pit stop for cosmic fried rice and noodles! There were two woks nestled in the stand’s body—a given, as they were obviously the best vessels for cooking the advertised cuisine. The one on Ren’s right was being handled by a gray-haired girl. The one on the left was being used by a dark-haired boy with the most beautiful eyes Ren had ever seen in his life. Every time he jostled the wok, it was as if he was commanding the iron tool to do his bidding. With every shake, both the food in the wok and the azure dragon tattooed on his arm danced in the nighttime air.

“There’s quite a few mix-in options to pick from,” Firefly breathed. “What should I get, I wonder..?”

“Pick something you’ll eat, duh.”

“Hmm, but there’s so many things I want to try. Blade, what are you getting?”

“…Yo. Bladie.”

Ren grunted as a hand nudged his arm. He tore his eyes away from the dragon tattoo to glare at his two friends.

“What are you ordering?” Silver Wolf asked. “Firefly’s indecisive.”

“…Beef,” he said without much thought.

“Heh. Basic.”

“I think I’ll get something with pork,” Firefly finally concluded. “You sure you don’t want anything, Silver Wolf?”

“I’m fine. Enjoy your rice solo.”

“Okay.”

The right-side gray-haired girl smiled at Firefly as she stepped forward. “Why hello, pretty young miss! What would you like tonight?”

“Pork with green beans, please.”

“Sounds good! How spicy would you like that?”

“Mild, please.”

“Alrighty, for a cosmic fried rice with two add-ins, that comes to seventeen hundred credits.”

“Okay…and sent!”

The chime of a tablet filled the air. The gray-haired girl hummed happily in thanks, then threw a bunch of ingredients into her wok and began making good on the order. 

“And what about you, sir?”

It took Ren a good second to realize the gray-haired girl was not the one who had spoken. Slowly, he turned, chin lowering to meet with the gaze of the boy on the left.

Striking blue eyes stared back at him. “What would you like this evening?”

Ren stared at him for a moment, wanting nothing more than to drown in those eyes.

“Beef fried rice,” he finally said. “Spicy.”

The boy nodded. “That will be fifteen hundred credits.”

Ren barely remembered scanning the payment code. When the stall’s tablet chimed, he pocketed his phone and watched as a scoopful of meat was dumped into the boy’s wok and tossed around, sizzling as it did. Bit by bit, the meat browned, until it was finally an appetizing color. Then a slab of rice was chucked into the wok and shoved around to fry. It was like a magical dance between food morsels, and Ren could only stand there and watch as an azure dragon facilitated the entire show.

“Okay, here you go, miss! Pork with green beans.”

“Thank you!”

“Do you need a bag?”

“No, no, we don’t need any. Do you have napkins though?”

“Right on the side here.”

“Thank you!”

“Of course, enjoy!”

Ren’s rice was scooped from the wok and dumped into a plastic container. It was then covered with a lid and handed to him with a pair of chopsticks.

“Spicy beef,” the boy said. “Enjoy.”

Ren took his order in silence. He gave the boy one last look before allowing Firefly and Silver Wolf drag him off in search of seating.

“It smells nice,” Firefly said as she plopped down on a half-wall. 

“Dig in already then,” Silver Wolf said. 

Firefly fumbled with her chopsticks for a moment. Ren wordlessly reached out and broke the wooden utensil apart for her. She smiled sheepishly at him in thanks, then took the lid off her container and began to eat.

“Fried rice is much nicer when fresh,” she finally concluded.

“Isn’t that true of all fried food?”

“Of course, but this is different. It hits all the right spots nicely.” Firefly nodded. “Truly out of this world.”

“Now you’re giving the cosmic theme too much credit.”

“You sure you don’t want to try?” Firefly held out her chopsticks. Silver Wolf hesitated, but finally relented and took the utensil.

“Not bad,” she finally said. “I give it three out of five hearts.”

“A favorable review from you.” Firefly looked over at Ren. “How’s yours, Blade?”

Ren frowned at his open container.

“…It’s not spicy enough.”

Silver Wolf snorted. “Is that you talking as a Zhuming guy, or are you just hating?”

He scowled into another bite.

“Well, it can’t be all that bad if you’re still eating it.” Firefly frowned. “Right?”

“It’s fine,” he muttered.

“Well, as long as it doesn’t go to waste…”

“Firefly, when you’re done, I want to try some octopus tentacles.”

“Huh? Won’t that look a little terrifying?”

“That’s what will make it extra fun, don’t you think? Finding out if it gives us a stat debuff, I mean.”

“You know what? You’re right. Let’s try some and find out.”

“Cool. So let’s do that and then try out some of the weird stuff that I saw in this post here, maybe buy some knockoff merchandise at a shady stall, and then get the egg waffles.”

“Wait, what do you mean weird? Huh?!”

Ren slowly tuned out the girls in favor of eating his much-plainer-than-expected fried rice and silently cursing the beautiful dragon-tattooed boy who had made it. Cosmic fried rice be damned—he was going nowhere near space if this was the best the pretty-boy had to offer. 

…Good thing that stall was nowhere near the cosmos.

Despite her protests, Ren accompanied Firefly to her campus dorm after a three-hour venture at the night market. When they arrived at her door, she tilted her head up to give him her signature sweet smile. 

“Thank you for coming out with me tonight, and sending me home.”

Ren nodded.

“It was a lot of fun. Though I wasn’t expecting Silver Wolf to argue with the stall owner about a game from the nineties for twenty minutes…”

“Hmph. I expected nothing less.”

“That’s true,” she laughed. “Well, did you have fun?”

Ren thought about his under-spiced fried rice, captivating blue eyes, and a rippling azure dragon. 

“Hmph.”

Firefly laughed. “Better than a bad time!”

“If you want to go back, just ask.”

“I will. Thank you again. Safe travels home, okay?”

“Mmm.”

Firefly was, to her merit, on time today. 

“I didn’t think you’d want to come back so soon,” Firefly laughed wryly as Ren approached her bench. 

“Same to you.” He tilted his head. “Will you be okay?”

“I made sure to get lots of rest, so I feel fine.” She took his hand anyway, allowing him to help her to a stand. “Besides, I might as well enjoy life’s delights while I can.”

He hummed softly as her grasp left his own. 

“I’m in the mood for some fried rice. Did you like what you got last time?”

“…It wasn’t spicy enough.”

“Well, tell them to make it extra spicy then.”

He grunted. Firefly laughed softly. 

“You don’t have to get any if you don’t want any.”

“I’ll request extra spicy.”

Firefly covered her mouth to stifle her laugh this time. “Okay.”

Walking through the market was an incredibly familiar experience. The light of a thousand lanterns and stoves casted a rosy glow on every surface. He followed Firefly like a shadow through the populous alleys, allowing her to forge the trail towards her destination. 

The Express Eatery food stall was the same as it had been the last they visited: somewhat slapdash, yet cohesive. The same gray-haired girl from the other night was standing behind the wok, passing a container of food to a brunette girl with a smile. 

“She’s alone today,” Firefly mused. 

“The market opened a half-hour ago,” Ren offered. 

“Even then, that’s a lot of work for one person to do…”

The two stepped up to the stand right as the brunette girl left with her meal. The gray-haired girl beamed at Firefly.

“Welcome, pretty young miss. What’ll you have?”

“Shrimp fried rice, please.”

“Roger! Spice level preference?”

“Mild, please.”

“Of course. Fifteen hundred credits, please.”

Firefly hummed as she scanned the payment code. “Sent.”

“Thanks!” The girl scooped up a ladleful of shrimp and threw it into the wok in an instant. “Nice to see you two back again so soon.”

“Eh, you remember us?” Firefly laughed wryly, scratching her head as she did.

“From Monday. Pork and green beans, yeah?” The girl beamed when Firefly nodded. “Nice to see you back trying something new.”

“I like trying new things when I can. Is there anything you’d recommend for me to get next time?”

The girl hummed in thought. “Trash noodles.”

“…Huh? Trash?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds! It’s our way of saying chef’s choice.” The gray-haired girl’s gaze flickered towards the menu sign. “Last one on the right.”

“Oh…oh! How fascinating.”

“Yeah! My brother makes the fan favorite variant of them. Lil’ Gui even gave it five stars. If you’re free over the weekend, he’ll be working Saturday and Sunday. Look for the guy that looks like my masculine double and tell him Stelle sent ya. He’ll hook you up, trust.”

“Oh, okay!” Firefly exchanged a smile with Ren. “We’ll bear that in mind.”

“So your brother also works here,” Ren said. 

“Yup. Never the same shift as me though.” Stelle dumped a slab of rice into the wok. “We usually run the stand in pairs, but my designated partner is running late today.” Her eyes glanced upward. “Oh, actually, speak of the devil.”

Ren and Firefly turned. Ren felt his hands stiffen in an instant. 

It’s him.

The blue-eyed man from last time gave them all a once over. “Sorry I’m late, Stelle,” he said in that familiar cool, even tone. 

“It’s fine. Make it up to me with your super speed powers. I’ve already warmed and seasoned your wok.”

The boy sighed, walking around to the back of the stall. “I don’t have those.” But he had an apron tied around his waist and hands sanitized before Firefly and Ren could even comprehend what was going on. “Did you two finish ordering already?”

Firefly nudged Ren. “He hasn’t.”

Those mesmerizing blue eyes once again met with his own. 

“What would you like, sir?”

Ren pursed his lips. 

“…Beef fried rice. Extra spicy.”

A dark eyebrow flinched.

“Extra spicy?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” The boy nodded. “Fifteen hundred credits, please.”

Ren grunted as he scanned the code and submitted the payment. The boy watched as the tablet beside him lit up, then began ladling ingredients into his wok. 

“Your shrimp fried rice, pretty miss. Do you need a bag?”

“No need. Thank you!”

Firefly waited patiently beside Ren as he watched the dragon-tattooed boy cook. Finally, his rice was scooped into a container and handed to him with a pair of chopsticks. As he reached out to take it, his gaze met once more with those enchanting blue eyes.

“Thank you for your patronage,” the boy said. “Enjoy your extra spicy rice.”

“Hope to see you two again!” Stelle chirped. 

“They’re mighty nice, aren’t they?” Firefly mused as she and Ren walked through the market in search of seating. “Makes me want to support them with all I’ve got.”

“Hmph.”

They found a quiet bench on the outskirts of the market to rest on. Firefly hummed happily as she dug into her rice. 

“The shrimp must be marinated. It’s sweet yet sour all at once. How delightful.”

Ren glared at his rice.

“…It’s less spicy than last time.”

“Huh? But you asked for extra spice, right?” Firefly frowned. “This must be a mistake. You should take it back and ask for a redo.”

He thought about a poignant gaze and a seemingly smirking dragon. 

“No.” Ren’s grip tightened on his container. “I’ll just set the record straight next time.”

“O-okay..?”

Given that Ren was a decently occupied master’s student, he really did not have the time to constantly visit the Aurum Alley night market. And yet, after the second not-spicy-enough fried rice, he found himself back there practically every other night either alone or with his friends, ordering from the darn Express Eatery stall just so he would have a proper excuse to watch the dark-haired boy with the dragon tattoo cook, if he was even working that night. 

“You really like the cosmic fried rice, huh,” Firefly mused one Sunday evening, after having shared an entire container of trash noodles with Silver Wolf.

“I don’t think that’s the only thing he likes there,” Silver Wolf mumbled under her breath.

Finally, after at least seven more iterations of disappointingly not-spicy-enough beef fried rice, Ren found himself alone at the food stall after submitting an equally bland project report, frowning in slight disappointment upon realizing that the gray-haired girl was working alone that evening. And even worse: her stall was not busy at the moment, meaning it was easy for her to spot him in the crowd and beckon him over with a pointed glare.

“Back for your fix of spicy beef fried rice?”

Ren bristled. Stelle laughed. 

“Don’t be shy, I’m flattered you think the food’s good enough to come back for. Reminds me of this blonde guy who became our regular last year. Dude orders everything we’ve got in rotation.” She sighed. “Well, you know the drill.”

Wordlessly, Ren pulled out his phone and scanned the payment code. Stelle hummed happily in time with the tablet ping and set off to start the dish. Ren watched in silence as the meat danced around the pot.

“His next three shifts are on Saturday, Monday, and Thursday, by the way.”

Ren blinked. 

“Who?”

“Dan Heng.” Stelle dumped a slab of rice in the wok. “The dragon-tattoo boy you’ve been ogling ever since we first met.”

“…I have not been ogling him.”

The gray-haired girl gave him a withering look. 

“You’re not his first admirer, bud,” she said. “But I’ve never seen him act with other customers the way he has with you, so I’m willing to give you a cheat sheet.” Stelle spooned the contents of her wok into a container. “Saturday tends to be super busy, and he can be a little grouchy on Mondays because he has an annoying class that day, so I suggest asking him out on Thursday.” She handed Ren his container. “Extra spicy just for you. Enjoy man.”

Ren accepted the container while suppressing the incredible urge to gawk at the utter audacity of the girl to confront a paying customer like that. 

Even so, as he ate his rice on a bench a block away from the hustle and bustle of the night market, Ren silently gave the gray-haired girl his thanks. At least she knew how to properly spice food to others’ tastes.

But then again…she wasn’t the one trying to flirt with him.

In hindsight, it was a good thing that Stelle recommended he make his move on Thursday, because he had a somewhat major assignment due the night before. So the time between the day she served him and the special semi-guaranteed ideal Thursday passed by in no time. (Especially when he made it a point to go to the market on days the boy wasn’t working, just to keep up with appearances, and also because one night Kafka asked him to accompany her as she “tried out the famous trash noodles” in case she didn’t like them. She got two bites in before deciding to save the rest for Elio. So he didn’t even have to go to begin with.) 

The downside about the whole quick passage of time though: he had made absolutely no mental preparations for the moment. 

So when the day finally arrived, he did what he knew what to do: take the train to the Aurum Alley night market, wade through the crowd until he reached the Express Eatery food stand, and wait his turn.

The Thursday evening crowd was modest, as usual. Within a few minutes, Ren was standing at the front, avoiding all eye contact with the gray-haired boy to his right and zeroing in on the dark-haired boy on the left.

Dragon tattoo boy— Dan Heng, his brain provided—stared back at him.

“Good evening. What would you like to eat, sir?”

Ren’s eyes darted between the beef listing on the menu board and the shimmering beryl irises looking back at him.

Oh, he realized at that moment, I have no idea what to actually say in response.  

“You,” he finally decided.

For a fairly noisy night market, there was a considerable amount of silence now settling between the two. And it was in that swell of silence that Ren cursed himself. The world might as well shoot him into space now, because he was about to get a game over even with the cheat code given to him by a nice girl who actually knew how to spice her food.

“The menu,” Dan Heng finally said. “Pick something off the menu first.”

Well, he had Ren there. Of course the boy that had shown him nothing but professional courtesy would respond with…wait, first?

“Beef fried rice. Make it extra spicy.”

“Okay.”

“More than what you did last time.”

“Okay.”

“Set my mouth on fire.”

“Okay, but you can’t issue a formal complaint then.”

“You have to give me something to complain about first.”

Dan Heng huffed. “Fifteen hundred credits, please.”

Ren held up his phone to show the payment being submitted. Dan Heng looked between the stall’s tablet and the device, nodded when the tablet chimed, then set about to do his work. Ren tuned out all the extraneous noises around him—the chattering crowd, the yelling hawkers, the snickering the gray-haired boy was attempting to stifle by biting his lip—to hone in on the sizzling of the food, the scraping of utensils against metal, and the barely audible huffs the dragon-tattooed boy would occasionally let out.

“Here.”

Ren frowned when a bag was dangled before him. 

“Beef fried rice,” Dan Heng said. “Spicer than before, as requested.”

“…Thanks.”

“We hope to see you back again soon.”

“Hmph.”

“Next customer, please.”

Ren turned away in an instant, grip tightening on his bag as he searched for a place to sit and figure out what in the world had just happened to him. He eventually found a solitary bench just outside the borders of the market to designate as his dinner spot. Slowly, he peeled away the plastic shopping bag layer to reveal the all-too familiar container and chopsticks within. But just as he was about to reach for the lid, his hand froze. 

Oh.

Scrawled across the lid of his take out container was a string of digits.

His phone number, Ren realized.

Suddenly, eating probably not spicy enough fried rice while sitting alone on a bench outside of a lively night market didn’t seem as bad as he thought it would.