Work Text:
Cheng Xiaoshi was having a shitty day. Maybe a little worse than shitty.
For starters, he slept in—and unfortunately, so did Lu Guang—so they opened the shop late, and man, did that get Qiao Ling riled up. They didn’t wake up to an alarm, but to frustrated knocking and banging on the door, an angry older-sister voice echoing along.
But Cheng Xiaoshi didn't just have to deal with Qiao Ling’s wrath; he also had to deal with a bunch of customers who thought they knew better than the people who owned the shop. Seriously, who did they think they were, bossing him and Lu Guang around? Ridiculous!
Not to mention the little things, like spilling juice on his sweater, having to change clothes, and getting knocked down a rank in his game—which he was playing to relax, but it just pissed him off.
From the second he woke up until this moment, everything had gone wrong.
Safe to say, Cheng Xiaoshi was two misfortunes away from exploding.
Or maybe one.
“Lu Guang,” he groaned, massaging his temples. “I’m already having a bad day, so could you please not make it worse by doing this right now?”
And by ‘this’, Cheng Xiaoshi meant staying quiet.
There were periods when Lu Guang seemed to shut down. Verbally, at least. It made no sense to Cheng Xiaoshi, and it made no sense to Lu Guang. When he asked a couple of months ago, Lu Guang shrugged and said he just got quiet sometimes, that he’d always been that way.
“You went quiet again during our outing last night,” Cheng Xiaoshi said, lounging in the sunroom with Lu Guang. He glanced at him from the side, noticing Lu Guang tense up before shaking it off.
He hummed in response, eyes trailing down his book. When he didn’t add anything else, Cheng Xiaoshi turned his attention back to his phone and resumed the game he was playing.
A couple of minutes passed, both engrossed in their activities. The atmosphere wasn’t necessarily suffocating, but it was clear that they were both thinking about the hangout.
Continuous tapping filled the silence, Cheng Xiaoshi softly cursing every now and then.
“Is it some kind of condition…?” Cheng Xiaoshi wondered suddenly, playing back the night in his mind. After they closed the studio, he and Lu Guang went out, walked around, and visited different stores. It was going perfectly fine until Cheng Xiaoshi asked Lu Guang a question, and he just didn’t say a word—he didn’t speak for at least two hours after that.
Lu Guang raised his shoulders, face neutral. “I don’t know. I never really thought much about it. I’m already a quiet person, so…” he didn’t look away from his book.
That made sense, but he was a little disappointed with that answer. If they had no idea why it happened, then it would be a bigger challenge to work on it. Was there really no one before him who was concerned about this? Did everyone just accept that Lu Guang would stop talking out of nowhere?
“Does it bother you…?” It appeared that Lu Guang picked up on Cheng Xiaoshi’s mood. He looked slightly worried, maybe a little uncomfortable.
Immediately, Cheng Xiaoshi ripped his gaze away from his game and shook his head, chuckling awkwardly. “No, no, no- it’s fine-”
“Are you sure?” he frowned, voice a touch more muted. He sounded uncertain.
“Yeah, yeah!” hands frantically flailed around. Cheng Xiaoshi assured him that it was fine, that it didn’t bug him in the slightest. “It doesn’t bother me.”
That opinion seemed to change, though, because he was clearly frustrated that Lu Guang wasn't talking.
Maybe it was because of his awful mood, but he didn't have the patience to deal with Lu Guang’s… quirks… right now. When they closed the shop for the day, Cheng Xiaoshi shouted from upstairs, asking Lu Guang to count the documents at the front because he needed to make sure they had them all. If they weren’t all there, then he knew to search through the files in their bedroom for the missing papers.
But Lu Guang never yelled back. Cheng Xiaoshi held his breath; Lu Guang wasn’t a loud guy, so if he answered, it would probably be quiet.
A beat passed and then another, and still, nothing. He groaned and called out again, making sure he pronounced each word clearly.
When Lu Guang still didn’t answer, he facepalmed in annoyance and stepped down from the ladder.
Cheng Xiaoshi shook his head in frustration. He walked out of their bedroom, busy thinking about what Lu Guang could possibly be doing at the moment. As he descended the stairs with his eyes half closed, he called out. “Lu Gu—”
Holy shit-!
He almost bumped into him on the stairs, so he quickly backed up. “Dude, what’s your deal?!” Cheng Xiaoshi exclaimed, clutching his chest in shock.
Instead of reacting, Lu Guang stared at him and lifted his hands to offer Cheng Xiaoshi a stack of documents.
“Uh… what?” he eyed the pile with uncertainty but accepted it nonetheless.
With his hands free, Lu Guang gave him an open palm and a peace sign.
“High… peace-?” Cheng Xiaoshi furrowed his brows in confusion, and Lu Guang sighed in return, pointing at the documents in his hands. “Oh. Seven? There were seven at the front?”
Pleased, Lu Guang nodded but still didn’t say a word. That was how Cheng Xiaoshi came to the conclusion that Lu Guang was in one of those… moments… episodes…? He didn’t know.
For some reason, he let his emotions take over. “Lu Guang,” he grumbled while massaging his temples. “I’m already having a bad day, so could you please not make it worse by doing this right now?”
His words clearly affected Lu Guang, and he promptly deflated and took one step down.
Cheng Xiaoshi grimaced at himself. Why did he say that? Being in a terrible mood sucked because he always dragged Lu Guang into it somehow. Maybe it was best to put some distance between them for the time being, so he wouldn't upset Lu Guang further.
As he was about to apologize, Lu Guang spun on his heel and climbed down the stairs.
Okay, so, maybe Lu Guang actually wanted space. That was fine.
Cheng Xiaoshi sucked in a deep breath and looked through the documents Lu Guang handed him. If he recalled correctly, there were nine in total, so two of them were most likely in their room.
He watched Lu Guang disappear into the sunroom, then turned around—the two documents were definitely on one of the shelves, and if not, in one of their desks.
Lu Guang couldn’t focus on his novel.
Today was stressful, way too stressful. The entire morning was havoc, and then the afternoon wasn’t any better. He could tell Cheng Xiaoshi was getting more ticked off as the day went on; he spoke more sharply and fidgeted restlessly. Lu Guang couldn’t blame him, though. He was frustrated too, though more because of the business and noise. And everything else, basically.
Their schedule was disorganized, people were too loud, and the weather made his clothes feel uncomfortable; his partner was in a sour mood—Lu Guang was overwhelmed. He was overstimulated and needed to calm himself down by doing something he liked, like reading in the sun.
But when he heard Cheng Xiaoshi shouting for him to count the files at the front counter, he wasted no time and put his book down to go check.
Seven. There were seven of them. He opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated.
It felt wrong to speak. His mind whispered to him that he would only add to the chaos, and he didn’t want that. Everything was already too much, so he kept his mouth shut.
For a few seconds, he just stared at the papers. That was, until Cheng Xiaoshi yelled again. At that, he snapped out of his daze and walked toward the stairs. He wasn’t really paying attention because he and Cheng Xiaoshi nearly collided.
“Dude! What’s your deal?!” Cheng Xiaoshi huffed out, looking absolutely alarmed. Lu Guang felt the urge to cover his ears when he shouted, but his hands were occupied, so he endured it with difficulty.
Still unable to speak, he held out the documents for Cheng Xiaoshi to grab; Cheng Xiaoshi did so after pausing for a moment. He made a confused sound, and Lu Guang held up seven fingers.
Cheng Xiaoshi was lost at first, but then he seemed to understand. When he asked Lu Guang if he meant there were seven files downstairs, Lu Guang nodded with a shy smile. However, the adequately peaceful atmosphere disintegrated in a flash as Cheng Xiaoshi began grumbling and complaining.
And what was Lu Guang supposed to do? He couldn’t get a single word out, couldn’t apologize for taking so long to answer. Cheng Xiaoshi's glare was intimidating, and he quickly decided that he couldn't handle confrontation right now. He left as soon as he arrived, climbed down the steps, and returned to the sunroom.
If Cheng Xiaoshi said anything to him, he did not catch it; his mind was preoccupied.
“Lu Guang, I’m already having a bad day, so could you please not make it worse by doing this right now?”
No, no. That was fair. Cheng Xiaoshi was allowed to be annoyed by his silence, especially when today was a mess. Lu Guang couldn’t imagine how bothersome it was to deal with him when he got this way, but he didn’t know how to ‘fix’ it.
What was wrong with him?
The novel in his hands was flipped to a random page, certainly not the one he left off on, but that didn’t matter. Not like he was reading.
God, could he do anything right? He tried to help out as best he could today, but since he was overstimulated most of the time, he caused more trouble than he fixed. This all started because he forgot to set an alarm last night, so they woke up to Qiao Ling’s scolding rather than birds’ melodies. Sure, Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t remember it either, but Lu Guang was supposed to be the orderly one—this was expected of him.
His eyes trailed over the words on the page, taking in nothing. At this point, he was using his novel as a distraction, and not in the way he’d intended. It was just someplace to stare at without looking insane.
Lu Guang didn’t know how much time had passed, but eventually, Cheng Xiaoshi crept downstairs and went to make food. He wondered if he’d make some for him as well. It was all right if not.
Soon enough, the studio smelled like newly cooked noodles, and Lu Guang felt his stomach rumble.
“Hey, dinner’s ready.” Cheng Xiaoshi walked into the sunroom with two bowls of noodles, and Lu Guang couldn’t help but smile.
When Cheng Xiaoshi set his bowl in front of him on the coffee table, Lu Guang parted his lips to thank him for the meal. But again, he couldn’t speak. Why wouldn’t his body cooperate?
He closed his mouth after failing to make a single sound, and Cheng Xiaoshi just looked at him. Lu Guang couldn’t pinpoint his expression, but he also didn’t want to see it in case it was something like annoyance. So he tilted his head the tiniest bit downwards and quietly ate his food. Because he was avoiding Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes, he didn’t catch the look of guilt that washed over him.
Cheng Xiaoshi kept eating, glancing over every so often. He debated apologizing to Lu Guang, but he was clearly avoiding his gaze, so he decided against it in the end. With a sigh, he scooted further back, creating more space between them. Lu Guang stilled at the movement, but otherwise said nothing.
The once-relaxing calm around them turned heavy and suffocating. The moment Cheng Xiaoshi shifted away from him, Lu Guang began to panic. He did his best to finish his meal as fast as he could because staying in the sunroom might be the death of him.
He wished he could apologize to Cheng Xiaoshi for being such a bother after a long day, but again, he couldn’t speak. Everything was too much for him. What was he? A child?
When his bowl had only about a quarter of soup left, he shot up and made a beeline for the bathroom. He hoped Cheng Xiaoshi wouldn’t mind too much that he’d left his dishes out there.
Ah, who was he kidding? That was just another inconvenience for him.
The second the door locked, his breathing picked up, and he knew he needed to calm down as soon as possible. Everything was so loud, everything was too much, everything was—
He covered his ears and crouched on the floor, but he could still see too much, so he tightly shut his eyes as well.
Lu Guang tried to tell himself that he was fine; he opened his mouth and pushed himself to mumble even the quietest ‘it’s okay’. But nothing came out; his body refused to add to the overstimulation. Instead, he curled further into himself, praying that the world would just slow down.
“Lu Guang?” Three knocks echoed through the door. Lu Guang winced at the unpleasant noise.
Despite everything being too loud for him at the moment, he gently removed his hands from his ears because Cheng Xiaoshi’s words were too muffled for him to catch, and he didn’t want to miss them in case they were important.
“You okay in there?” He asked, knocking twice more. Lu Guang frowned at the door. “Wait- no, sorry… can’t talk, right?”
Yeah. Couldn’t even whisper to himself. How pathetic, no? He had been this way since childhood, and now he was a grown man. Shouldn’t he have moved past this by now?
A couple of minutes of stiff silence passed, and Lu Guang caught a defeated sigh from the other side of the door, then heard footsteps climbing the stairs.
Cheng Xiaoshi was definitely sick of him.
Feeling the urge to cry, he tilted his head back and slid down the wall so he was on his ass instead of crouching. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes before they turned into proper sobs. There he was, still unable to talk, still overwhelmed by the world, and still causing new problems.
Why did he always make things worse?