Work Text:
The slow click of gears echoed through the quite apartment as Freminet ,from his place sitting on the floor, watched Pers slowly walk forward on his table. Laying his head on the table Freminet closes his eyes listening to the gears begin to slowly turn faster. He opens an eye to stop Pers from falling off the table when he jumps from the sudden sound of his door bell.
Shooting up Freminet quickly turns towards the door, but then the sound of the gears makes him stumble to grab Pers to stop him from moving. After getting a hold of Pers Freminet slowly stands up from his living room to move towards his door. Carefully stepping through his home he reaches his door and peers through the peep hole seeing a blur of brown and red hair, making him let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Turning the lock Freminet opens the door fully, smiling fondly seeing Gaming's embarrassed smile as Man Chai peaks out from a bag on his back
"Heeeey minet!... Can I uh come inside." Gaming looks off to the side and scratches his neck seeming embarrassed, causing Freminet's face to scrunch up in confusion. Ultimately he says nothing and steps to the side allowing Gaming to enter.
As he enters Gaming does a small bow and takes off his shoes. Freminet walks back to his living room as Gaming eyes wander the familiar space. Sitting down on his couch Freminet carefully placing Pers on the table as Gaming collapses next to him with a loud sigh putting his bag down next to the couch.
The two sit in momentary silence before Freminet speaks, "So why are you visiting in the middle of the night." In response to the question Gaming puts his arm over his face and groans, causing Freminet slight panic. "It's not that I'm upset that your here! It's just whenever you usually visit it's during the day but it's almost midnight," as he scrambles to not offend Gaming chuckles for a moment before leaning forward and cradling his face with his hand.
"Eh ya know the usual just a small spat with my dad," to most others that sounds like a reasonable excuse, but yo Freminet and a few others they can see right through it.
"But before when you fight with your dad you just hide in your apartment until you both want to talk it out, expect that one time a few years ago," the mention of the time Gaming had run away from home for a few months brings a smile to his face, before it's overshadowed by the memory of his latest argument.
He places his sights on the opposite wall trying to will the thoughts to go away. That is until he hears Freminet shuffle closer to him and two cold hands grab onto his. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I promise if you do I won't share it unless you want me to." Hearing Freminet's words make him feel warm and cause him to turn towards the diver and let out a sigh as he mentally recounts the events.
"Ok so it's really nothing big I'm telling you I just didn't feel like being alone, especially cause I know Dad will prob just look for me at home," the look of concern on Freminet's face pushes to share some more details. "He just wanted me to go to a business party that's coming up really soon and at first I was kinda on board with the idea. Those types of business aren't really my thing, way too stuffy, but I still care about the family business, I just don't wanna run it so I thought I might as well just go. But then he started talking about all these people from other companies and then I realized what he actually wanted from the party. He just wanted to set me up with someone from another company."
Gaming's face changes to seem more disappointed then sad, "Then he started saying how he found someone who I'd actually like but I kept telling his I just didn't wanna get into a relationship that way. After awhile I just got too upset and ran out. I grabbed some stuff and came here cause I knew he would go to my apartment eventually to try and talk, and I just don't wanna yet." Freminet absorbs his words but taking notice asks a question.
"You don't seem mad or sad that's how you would usually be when you argued with him."
"I'm just disappointed, after all this time of us working through this it feels like still he just doesn't get that I want to decide what to do with my life and I just... I dunno I thought we had gotten better." The two fall into a silence as they both think over his words.
Eventually Freminet retracts his hand making Gaming look towards him. Folding his hands in his lap Freminet breaks the silence, "I'm not the best at comforting, as you know, but you can stay at my place for as long as you want." Freminet gives an awkward smile, to which Gaming responds by leaning against him with a relieved smile.
"Thanks Fremi, I promise I'll buy you whatever you want to pay you back," Freminet opens his mouth to argue back but closes it knowing Gaming won't back down.
"You can just stay in my room," to that Gaming quirks and eyebrow and looks up at Freminet.
"But where are you gonna stay then?"
"I'll just stay on the couch."
When he hears the words Gaming sits up straight and shakes his head, "nu uh I've already inconvenienced you enough there's no way I can take your bed, I'll sleep on the couch."
Gaming ushers Freminet off the couch and towards his room, trying to leave no room for argument, however, Freminet speaks, "It's rude to let a guest sleep on a couch! Especially when dealing with something like this."
Not fully thinking through his next argument Gaming blurts out, "we could just share the bed!" The two freeze in the middle of the hallway as Gaming's brain catches up to him making his face flush, causing him to spout a waterfall of words. "I mean only if you want really, I wouldn't wanna make you uncomfortable or anything!"
A short pause follows his words before Freminet answers, "uh, yeah it's fine." Hearing the agreement Gaming focuses his eyes on Freminet. Since he can't see his face it's hard to tell exactly what Freminet is feeling but seeing the red tips of his ears is telling.
Suddenly Freminet turns back towards the living room, "I'm going to grab Pers, make yourself comfortable." And quick as a flash Freminet zips past him leaving Gaming in the hallway. Gaming covers his face rethinking his choices until he feels a fluffy mass rub against his leg. Looking down he sees Man Chai rub against his leg and look up at him.
"Sorry bud almost forgot about you." Scooping up the cat, he slowly calms down as he enters the room.
Plopping himself on Freminet's bed he looks around the room. Like the rest of the apartment it's unchanged from his last visit, which makes sense as that visit was a week ago. The room is mostly empty with two exceptions, those being the shelf next to his work table, which is filled with books, gifts, and some of Freminet's creations, and the work table itself which is a mess of gears, tools, and other mechanical parts.
Footsteps approach from the hall as Freminet walks in now holding Pers, when the blonde enters the room Man Chai clambers out of his arms prompting him to ask a question, "can Man Chai sleep in here too? Sorry I know I'm asking for a lot of stuff." With a shake of his head Freminet puts Pers on the night stand and slowly gets under the blanket.
"It's fine, I wouldn't want him to have to sleep on the couch anyways." Nodding Gaming awkwardly looks around before deciding on just getting rest.
"I'm just going to sleep then, night Fremi." After laying down and closing his eyes Gaming eventually hears Freminet shuffle around and lie down too.
🦁🐧
Gaming's eyes crack open to see a lack of a certain diver. Sitting up he looks around seeing no sign of Freminet but does see the room door open with light coming in through the gap. Standing and leaving the room Gaming sees the light is coming from the kitchen, however, he gets distracted by a smell that causes his stomach to growl.
Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes Gaming walls into the kitchen finding Freminet standing by the counter with brown paper bag, that he notes seems to be where the smell is coming from. "Morning Gaming or I guess noon, you slept for a really long time, I got some food for you."
Giving a dopey smile Gaming respond, "Morning, thanks for the food, what did you get?"
Opening the bag the blonde pulls out a plastic and a glass container and hands it to him, "I ordered some pork buns from wanmin restaurant, and made some egg drop soup. The soup might not be that good I just took a recipe from online so I dunno if it's any good."
Grabbing the containers Gaming grows warmer thinking over the food and the kind gesture, and in his freshly awoken state Gaming blurts out the first words that come to mind.
"I love you so much Fremi."
Within a moment Gaming's brain catches up to him and the atmosphere turns stiff as blush coats both their faces and Gaming begins to panic. His brain struggles to think of and voice an excuse, "I- uh- sorry that was super awkwa-" as he scrambles to talk he's cut off by Freminet.
"Do you.. really mean that.. do you really love me?" Any flimsy excuse he has thought of all disappear as he looks at Freminet's eyes, pleading for the truth.
So psyching himself up Gaming gives him the truth, "Yeah I do for a long time now actually." As Freminet doesn't respond Gaming panics and as he panics he starts talking about the first thing on his mind, Freminet. "I mean I always thought you were super cute since we first met, but the more we talked and hung out the more I fell in love. Your one of the few people who are fine with me rambling all the time, usually I feel like I'm annoying but you've never made me feel like that. Plus your always so considerate like with all this food you got me, and your always just so pretty, and brave, and just your so-"
"STOP!" Gaming's rambling comes to an abrupt stop as he focuses on Freminet seeing him cover his face to hide his bright blush, "Please stop, I can't handle this much..."
Gaming gives an apologetic smile, "Sorry Fremi I just got caught up in the moment and, well yeah sorry." But then his smile falls as he looks off to the side. "And uh I think I'll just go back to my apartment, sorry for making things awkward."
As Gaming takes a step to grab his things he feels a hand wrap around his. Looking back he sees Freminet reaching over the counter to grab his hand, "Wait stop! I li- love you too." Gaming's eyes widen in shock as he slowly steps around the counter.
"For real? Like really?"
Freminet begins to fiddle with his fingers and look down, "Of course your always so nice to me and you never judge me for being quite or having childish interest. Your one of the best people I know, how could I not love you?" Gaming's smiles as brightly as the sun as he tackles Freminet into a hug.
The two stand in comfortable silence enjoying the others presence and their new found revelation until Gaming's stomach growls and the two remember the pork buns on the counter. Freminet pulls away and walks to the living room bringing the containers with him. "Come on, we shouldn't let the food get cold."
Nodding Gaming happily joins Freminet on the couch sitting shoulder to shoulder with him. "Yeah wouldn't want your gift to go to waste."
Picking up the remote Freminet hands it to Gaming and asks. "Do you want to watch something?"
Gaming puts a hand to his chin and thinks before switching towards a certain documentary channel. "I've heard really good things about this documentary that talks about some liyue food spots from Lan Yan, how about that" Freminet responds with only a nod as he takes a bite of pork bun.
The two sit and eat listening to the documentary, but Gaming ends up voicing a question. "Does this count as our first date?"
The question catches Freminet off guard but with a smile he answers with. "I wouldn't mind if it is."
🍲
A few days later the new couple find them selves on the doorstep of the Yip estate having recently made plans with Gaming's father to talk through their most recent disagreement. Using his key Gaming enters pulling Freminet along. The two find Tak at the diner table seemingly waiting for them, they take a seat near him as he speaks up. "Let's just cut to the chase, Gaming please understand I jus-"
Gaming holds up a hand silencing his father as he makes his argument. "Before you said that you just didn't want me to be alone but that's not a problem anymore." Tak raises an eyebrow making Gaming falter, until he feels Freminet hold his hand giving enough courage to continue. "Baba me and Freminet are dating now."
When the words are spoken Tak pauses obviously taken back by the news "Gaming you shouldn't make your friends to be on a fake relationship just to avoid this."
"We're not faking anything, we're actually dating. I've actually liked Freminet for a while." Tak's gaze passes between the pair scrutinizing them.
"You truly love him?" With no hesitation Gaming smiles and answers with.
"Yes I do."
With a sigh Tak leans back relenting. "Then I won't bug you about this topic anymore, congratulations Gaming."
Gaming sighs in relief looking towards Freminet to see a warm smile on his face and he pulls him in for a hug, as Tak watches reaching a hand to his forehead as he mutters.
"*Sigh* I owe miss xianyun some mora now."