Chapter Text
X’s favorite day of the week was Saturday.
Why?
It was because he had off from work on weekends. And his favorite bakery opened at just the right time for him to walk in, following his morning schedule, and buy a fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate croissant. He’d also get a coffee to go with that, with five packets of sugar and extra milk to drown out the bitterness.
It wasn’t a secret that X, or well, his civilian self, had a sweet tooth.
However, as X approached the bakery today, he frowned. The inside was dark, only being lit in certain areas by the sunlight streaming in through the windows, and no one was inside.
Quickly, he checked his watch.
10:09.
The bakery should have been open at ten.
X sped-walked the rest of the distance to look and see if something was posted on the door.
There must be a notice of some sort as to why they were closed right now.
Indeed, there was a white piece of paper posted on the inside of the front door. X adjusted his glasses and bent down to read it, shielding the door from the glare of the sun.
It read: “Dear customer, much of our supplies and new equipment were caught up in a recent attack by an unidentified villain during shipping. Due to this unfortunate circumstance, we are now unable to operate this bakery and have decided to temporarily close the bakery until all supplies and equipment are restocked. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
A sliver of worry for Muxi — the bakery clerk that always worked when he went — rose in his chest, but he waved it away. The notice didn’t say anything about their staff members being hurt anyways, just the supplies.
X huffed out a breath in annoyance and drummed his fingers against the door as he straightened back up. What unidentified villain? Give him some details, and he’ll hunt the guy down himself. How was he supposed to get his weekly fix of chocolate croissant and coffee now? Well, he could get coffee elsewhere, but the croissant! None of the other local bakeries sold them, and he certainly couldn’t-
Wait, he could. He could just snap and be in Paris, couldn’t he? What was stopping him? Of course, it’d be a foreign country, and he wasn’t sure about all the paperwork a normal person had to do, but it was possible for a reality-warping guy like him. He brought Smile to the moon once, didn’t he? Besides, he might be able to give himself a French visa or whatever he needed if people asked, but he doubted people in a European country would even recognize him anyways. And although he didn’t know how to speak French, he could just use a translation app. Plus, he doubted he’d need to know French just to buy some croissants at a bakery. And he knew English, which was the next best thing.
Now, about the money… how to transfer yuan to euros? He didn’t exactly want it on his bank statement that he just randomly bought a croissant and coffee in France when he was supposed to be a regular civilian in China. Of course, he doubted anyone would actually be able to see that information or check it, but just to make sure.
X unconsciously paced back and forth, crossing his arms and tapping his fingers.
Could he change yuan to euros directly with his powers? It couldn’t hurt to try. What did euros look like again? And what was the transfer rate?
Pulling out his phone, he quickly searched up a picture of euro coins and bills, a simple explanation of French currency in one tab, and an EUR-to-RMB calculator in another. Pausing for a moment, he then opened another tab.
“How much does a croissant cost in Paris?” X mumbled as he typed in the words.
About 1.3€. Which was… ¥10.77. Ok, so around the same price, a little more expensive than the ones from his bakery though, but that was fine.
Now, to change yuan to euros.
¥20 should be enough to cover everything if the croissant is more expensive than expected.
X looked around to make sure there were no cameras or passerbys before pulling out twenty dollars in cash from his wallet, snapping with the intention of turning it into its equivalent of 2.41 €. He got ready to catch any coins that might fall.
He watched the cash split and change, counting them up after they stabilized in his hands. The bills had transferred correctly, to which he gave a little celebratory fist pump, gripping the euro bills and coins in his hand.
Now, time to go on a little trip to France.
After stuffing the cash and coins in his pocket, X snapped. He walked through his colorful, dizzying space, through the fabric of reality (although it held more geometric shapes and edges than one would expect from fabric), before snapping again to bring himself into the third dimension. It wasn’t that much of a spectacle after going through the experience hundreds of times.
Darkness surrounded him the moment he stepped out, causing his internal alarms of danger to go off as he grabbed his phone for the flashlight.
Nothing had indicated that Paris was under some sort of attack, and other than the darkness, it honestly didn’t feel-
Oh wait.
Maybe he really was getting old.
X sighed and rubbed at his face as he realized two things about his situation.
One, there was plenty of light. From the city. He must be going blind since he didn’t notice it when he first arrived. Two, there was a few hours of time difference between China and France. It was around 10am in China, but it could very well be 3am in Paris.
X checked the time on his phone, which had switched to the time zone of his current location. Sure enough, the device flashed open with a bright “4:15” on the home screen.
He doubted there were any bakeries open at this time, but he checked on his maps app just to make sure. Expectedly, all the bakeries he clicked into showed “closed” in little red characters.
He huffed with annoyance.
Well, there goes his weekly morning croissant. He didn’t want to come back in the afternoon or evening for it. He always got it in the morning for a reason.
He was already here though, so he might as well take a tour of the city. There were still people out and about anyway (or maybe they just got up that early, who knows).
After a quick picture of the city from afar, he snapped right into the city. The lights that were relatively far away were now shining bright, not too different from nighttime back home. The Eiffel Tower stood some ways away, but the shining lights on it lit up the entire area. Of course, there were no stars to be seen in the night sky, drowned out by the city’s brightness. X took a moment to look around and take in the dazzling city buildings and lights. Cool wind blew across his face, and he ran a hand through his currently-white hair. Sometimes he wonders why he doesn’t travel more. It wasn’t like he couldn’t just be anywhere he wanted with the snap of a finger after all. He really wasn’t making better use of his powers enough.
After a few moments of his ponderings, he snapped, appearing back at the spot he had left from in China. The sudden change from nighttime to daytime caused him to squint and blink before his eyes adjusted to the brightness.
X yawned.
He’ll survive this week without his croissant, but he will be getting his coffee.
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(Some days later, he realized there must be other French bakeries in China that he could’ve gone to, instead of going all the way to Paris and coming back empty-handed)
(He was also recognized by some people in Paris since he didn’t go in his civilian form. A video and picture of him in Paris at night circulated on FOMO. Now people think he can speak French, and lo and behold, he can now understand French).