Work Text:
You’re at the grocery store, searching for the items on the list your mom had sent you while she deep-cleaned the house, when you get the message. It’s from Mrs. Lin, asking if you were busy right now, or at least had some time to swing by their house sometime today.
Apparently, Qiu hasn’t been out of their room all day. It doesn’t sound surprising when taken at surface level and not literally, but no— she meant it literally. All. Day. They haven’t even gone down to have breakfast, lunch, or even a single glass of water, like they usually do.
Their parents have been knocking, asking, and messaging them desperately, but all to no avail. All that comes is the failure of a locked door knob, an awkward silence, and a “Seen” underneath their texts.
So, of course, they reached out to their emergency contact, AKA their child’s most favorite person in the world, AKA the only person that could get them to do basically whatever it is they don’t want to do, including taking care of themselves—
You.
You type up a quick reply to Mrs. Lin, as well as inform your own mother about the plan, explaining that once you’re done here, you’ll drop your goods off at your house before heading to theirs soon after. After that discussion is done, you switch over to your chatroom with Qiu, and send them a heads-up.
Me (1:29 p.m.): pssttt qiuu
Me (1:29 p.m.): im gonna be coming over later
Me (1:29 p.m.): unlock that damn door
Their reply comes quick. Quicker than Mr. and Mrs. Lin would probably be happy about after hours of being ghosted by their own child.
Qiu (1:29 p.m.): did my mom message you again…
Me (1:30 p.m.): are you complaining
Qiu (1:30 p.m.): nah 😇
Qiu (1:30 p.m.): see youu 😘
An airy chuckle escapes your mouth as you turn off your phone and tuck it back in your jacket pocket. Your grocery trip continues, with you now moving at a significantly faster pace compared to when you first arrived. Maybe while you’re here, you could get a little something for them too…
“I’m off to visit Qiu, Ma. Love you!” you yell out towards the kitchen while turning the doorknob to pull the door open.
“Okay, sweetie! Be back a little before dinner to help me prepare. I love you!” Your mom’s words trail off as you scooch yourself and your small plastic bag with some goodies for Qiu out the door. You turn to the red house to your right, looking up at their window, just to see if you could spot them. When no silhouette of a human comes to sight, you shrug, and make your way out of your house’s fence and to the Lins’ front door.
The ding-dong… ding-dong… sound rings when you press on the doorbell, but it’s cut off in mere seconds with how fast Mrs. Lin comes to answer the door. She doesn’t say much besides a “Hello, dear,” but her soft smile is more than enough to tell you just how grateful she is for your visit.
She steps to the side to let you in, and gently closes the door once you’ve walked past her. Once that’s done, she rushes over to the kitchen without warning, and returns to you with a bowl of food, which you presume to be Qiu’s lunch (…breakfast, technically?). With fumbling hands, you accept the bowl, but still look back at Mrs. Lin with mild confusion.
“Please bring this to them and make sure they eat at least some of it… I’m so sorry for the trouble. We’ve just been getting worried…” Mhm. Looks like your speculation was right. After being assured from you that it was no trouble at all, Mrs. Lin speaks again. “Well…
“…You know where to find them.” When no more words follow, and Mrs. Lin averts her gaze to the staircase ahead of you, you give her an encouraging nod and thanks, before making your way upstairs to find your target.
Standing in front of their room, you almost bring your balled up fist to knock on the door out of pure muscle memory, but retrieve it when you remember the message you’d sent them earlier. Maybe they…?
The doorknob twists completely and smoothly. Success! You slowly push the door forward and peek through the gap. Lying down with their arms and legs all spread out on the bed like a starfish, is none other than the star of all halls themself… Qiu Lin.
Their gaze snaps to your direction from the sound of their door opening, and a wide grin tugs on their lips when they confirm it’s you. The way they look at you almost makes your knees want to give in right there, but no. Mrs. Lin called you here for this special mission. You can’t fall now!
Hands still occupied by the bowl, you gently kick the door with one foot to let yourself in, then do the same thing to close it. Only after setting the bowl and your bag down on the surface of their desk… not covered in millions of papers and notebooks, do you turn to them, now sitting upright, and return that fond smile. “Hi,” you greet, to which they respond with an even bigger smile: “Hey.”
Now sitting cross-legged on their bed, they tilt their upper body more to the side to be able to see what it was behind you on the table. “Food?” they ask.
“Yup. Your food. Why do you think your mom messaged me in the first place? Just to hang out?” You pick up the bowl of food lovingly prepared by Mrs. Lin (though… you’re not sure if it’s still warm now considering the time…) and walk until your knees bump against the mattress of Qiu’s bed. You hold and tilt it slightly so that it’s facing them, but are careful that none of it spills. “Eat up already, it’s way too late. No, I’m not taking no as an answer, nor am I feeding you.”
Qiu scoffs jokingly at your words. “What, you think I’m a baby or something? Plus, I’ve gone days skipping meals before, especially lunch at school when there's too many people around. This is nothi—”
“I have something for you too, after,”
Hah. That definitely got their attention. Finally, albeit rather hesitantly, they accept your offering and take their first bite of their first meal at a careful pace. Their hand briefly lets go of the utensils to pat on the spot beside them, quietly inviting you to sit down. You do, making yourself comfortable as the mattress dips down under your weights.
For another few minutes and bites, no words are exchanged between you two neighbors. The quiet (though sometimes obnoxiously loud. just to piss you off<3) sound of Qiu’s chewing fills the room, and you can note the way it gets faster with every bite. They might’ve been reluctant to eat all day and been brushing it off as “nothing”, but they must have gotten pretty hungry with the way they were taking the food now.
All the while, you simply look around and find random things to ponder about. Qiu’s room that they clearly haven’t taken any time to clean, the view out their window where you can see your and Tamarack’s house, your phone to look out for any messages from your mom or Tamarack, or just… Qiu Lin themself. The being beside you, existing with you, that always has been for years.
A small smile forms on your face, and on theirs too when they notice you staring.
When you notice their bowl almost cleared out of any food, you break the silence, finally deciding to address the issue Mr. and Mrs. Lin have been so concerned about. “So…” Qiu’s head tilts to the side to look back at you, an eyebrow now raised. “What’s up with you today? Why haven’t you been eating?”
Violent coughs interrupt the peace in the room, from Qiu trying to start speaking before they finished chewing. Their hand comes up to their throat, and yours comes up to pat them on the back until the coughs die down. When they do, Qiu takes a deep breath and begins to explain.
“That fucking research paper,” they grumbled, the angry rasp in their voice clear. You remember it clearly, you think. It must be that, the first milestone of one of your major history projects. You nod, prompting them to continue.
“My groupmates are so fucking annoying! They keep dragging everyone into these meetings to “discuss the delegation of tasks”—” they say with a roll of their eyes, sharp air quotes, and a mocking tone. “—but they really don’t talk about anything important and still force me to stay there! That was also why I couldn’t walk home with you that day last week!
“But I just sucked it up because it would be a bother to report them or speak up or— s-something. I did the part assigned to me and at least tried not to totally half-ass it—
“And then they pull up with this BS that I didn’t do all of my parts?! I swear to everything, I did! If they’d mentioned anything else and just didn’t send it to the group chat, I’d have it written down on my notebook—you know that!
“Buuuut, nope! They kept insisting that I didn’t do it, and threatened to report me to the teacher for “ignoring my responsibilities!”” More air quotes, with their voice getting progressively louder and more aggressive with every new part of the explanation. You take this as a sign to try to calm them down. You get down the bed to reach for the post-meal surprise you’d promised them, making sure to nod along to let them know that you’re still listening.
“So I sucked it up again, finished it so late last night, and made sure to let them know not to bother me about anything more. I got up so late today because I was still so tired and pissed and everything, and, G— mmhf—!”
Your lips press against theirs in a swift, smooth movement, knocking all the air out of their lungs and sending all their thoughts to drift away like scattered clouds. A soft moan from the surprise escapes Qiu’s mouth, and the both of you can't help but shiver at the noise and sensation.
Their hand comes up to rest behind your neck ever-so gently, the skin of their palm cool against yours. Soft eyelashes flutter against your skin, before snapping right back up when Qiu realizes it—
A piece of chocolate, their favorite sweet treat in the whole wide world, held in place in between your teeth and waiting to be pushed further past theirs.
Never breaking the kiss, you close whatever distance remained between you and Qiu, planting your hands on either side of their hips on the bed and pushing forward. You hum in satisfaction with the way they happily invite you in, their grip on your neck not necessarily strengthening, but rather, reeling in.
When their lips part ever so slightly, you take the chance to quickly slide your tongue in, pushing the sweet piece of chocolate in until it rests against theirs.
And when it’s finally settled, you pull away faster than they could’ve expected, walking back to their desk where the remaining chocolate bar sat. Picking it up and throwing the rest of the wrapped bar onto their bed, you explain.
“Mama sent me to do some groceries earlier. Thought I’d get you your favorite while I was at it.” You lick at your still chocolate-tainted fingers, staring at Qiu as they stare right back at you, but just… twenty times more incredulously, in a way that you’re sure translates to:
“??? What the. The fuck?? You can't just— y— you can't just. do that out of nowhere and then just— h. hh. HHHUUHH ????? WHAT THE HELL???” You grin to yourself at the Qiu monologue you cook up in your imagination. Though you can't help but get a bit worried when, still, no reply comes…
…
………
Okay, that’s it. “…Q-Qi—?”
“Do it again.”
“Oh absolutely no—”
“DO. IT. AGAAAAIIIN—” Oh gods, okay. What the hell. Maybe you shouldn't have done that.
If only you’d known that they would be leaping off of their bed, holding you by the shoulders, and shaking you violently just to get you to do your silly impromptu act again, maybe you wouldn’t have done it in the first place…
Their arms snake around your waist and they bury their head in the dip between your neck and shoulders, peppering those areas of your skin with more light kisses. The entire time, you’re desperately trying to squirm your way out of their grip, praying to whatever gods above that Mr. or Mrs. Lin don’t walk in on… whatever this is.
…But your efforts are of no use, because Qiu is already dragging you back to their bed where the abandoned chocolate bar still sits, and where all this first started.
They sit back down on the edge of the bed, holding you firmly in place as you stand with one arm, and breaking another piece of chocolate (painfully unevenly…) with the other. Your insides crank the heat up more than you’d be comfortable with, and you’re sure your face is red enough for them to laugh at it if they wanted to, and if they weren’t so focused on the task at hand.
The dark brown piece, almost matching the shade of their hair, settles in between their teeth this time, and they stare back up at you with pleading, though with a clear glint of mischief, eyes. The words they speak next are slightly muffled, but clear enough to understand.
“Ooone more. Pleaasee~?”
…For fuck’s sakes.
You roll your eyes and sigh heavily at their childish pleading.
You glance to the bedroom door to your left, and the window to your right.
Then you avert your gaze back to them, that stupid grin still there, taunting…
. . .
And you close the distance again, enjoying the sweet treat with them.