It's Just A Chocolate, Right?
Chongyun attempts to buy chocolate three times. Only one of them is successful.
reposted from AO3. also posted to tumblr and squidgeworld
Today’s the day he’s going to confess!
So thinks Chongyun as he enters the candy shop, hoping to Rex Lapis that no one’s already taken the chocolate he wants. He has a plan! First, he’s going to buy that one chocolate that he can’t remember the name to but he does remember that the wrapper is orange and it’s stored in a box, so he has that going for him. Next, he’ll write Xingqiu a note to tell him where to meet and when. Then after that, he’ll wait for Xingqiu and hopefully not make too much of a fool of himself as he confesses and pushes the chocolate into Xingqiu’s hand or hands. Knowing his luck, it’s unlikely that he’ll get the answer he wants, but he needs Xingqiu to know how he feels!
The shop is fairly crowded, which is expected for a holiday like Valentine’s Day, but still it surprises him. Not just the people, but the heat emanating off of so many people. If he weren’t so focused on his task at hand, maybe he’d lose control, and that would be bad. Chongyun makes his way through the people, all the way to the back of the shop, where he remembers for certain that this one chocolate he’s looking for is there. Not at all to his surprise, there’s still a few packages left. Fortunately, it’s not on a high shelf so he reaches for it easily…
Only to be met by another hand. Familiar hand? Chongyun’s gaze follows the arm all the way down to the face to see… Xingqiu. What? What’s Xingqiu doing here? The heat from the store finally catches up to his face, and Chongyun is sure he’s blushing, but Xingqiu merely makes eye contact with him for a single moment before smiling. Archons, his smile is beautiful. “Are you here to buy chocolate too?” he asks, as if the answer isn’t obvious by the fact that they’re both reaching for the same chocolate. Ah yes, now is a good time for Chongyun to remember that the chocolate he’s planning on buying is, well, Xingqiu’s favorite. Don’t ask how he knows; Chongyun doesn’t even know how he knows either.
Chongyun only nods dumbly, afraid of making himself look like a fool by saying something dumb. Xingqiu is always so smart and there’s no way that Chongyun could ever catch up. Anyways, back to the chocolate at hand. Chongyun retracts his hand and lets Xingqiu take the chocolate, not out of love or anything nope. Just pure shock. He watches mutely as Xingqiu takes the chocolate gleefully and pays and leaves the store, and Chongyun doesn’t think even once to buy his own chocolate.
Okay, so maybe today isn’t the day that he’s going to confess.
Today’s the day he’s going to confess!
So thinks Chongyun as he heads into the candy shop once again. The embarrassment from the first time he entered the candy shop is still fresh in his mind, despite that incident being weeks in the past. His plans are still the same, but this time, he knows where he’ll tell Xingqiu to meet him! Everyone likes going to the school rooftop, so Chongyun has made the decision to not do that. He’ll tell Xingqiu to go to the courtyard instead because no one else will think of confessing in the courtyard, and besides, it’s a short walk to the garden and the garden is far away from prying eyes. Maybe he’ll pick some silk flowers to give to Xingqiu, maybe he won’t, but that’ll be something he thinks about doing later. Now it’s chocolate time.
Chongyun thought that since the initial chocolate-buying crowd was already done by the time he comes back, it’ll be emptier in the shop. He is so very wrong. There are more people in the shop, and the atmosphere is even hotter and stuffier now. If he weren’t so determined to pull this off, he would’ve never come back to the candy shop so close to Valentine’s Day. Too bad he really is this determined to pull off a confession on Valentine’s Day. Since when did he become such a romantic? Probably since he fell for Xingqiu.
The chocolate is still in the same place, so of course, it’s an easy grab. He’s just about to take the chocolate off the shelf when another hand grabs his arm. Chongyun almost jumps, but if he did, he would’ve lost his last shred of dignity, so he thanks the Archons that he doesn’t jump. His gaze follows the arm back to the face of… his good friend Bennett. “What’s up?” Bennett asks, as if it wasn’t plainly obvious as to what is actually up with Chongyun. “Buying chocolate, I see! Is it for Xingqiu?”
Once again, Chongyun is left nodding dumbly at the question. He already told Bennett a while ago about confessing on Valentine’s Day and Bennett has been nothing short of supportive. In fact, it was Bennett’s idea to give chocolates, but he said that he didn’t know how to pick chocolates. Coupled with the fact that Bennett just has really, really bad luck, the poor boy doesn’t know how else he could support Chongyun besides just coming up with the plan. Chongyun is infinitely grateful for Bennett’s plan, and he is also grateful for Bennett keeping him accountable for such a plan because Chongyun is very close to backing out now. Once again, he retracts his hand, allowing Bennett to take a chocolate instead of him. “I’ll be giving this one to Fischl,” he says brightly. “It’s not really a romantic thing, but I think she’ll appreciate the gesture, y’know?”
Chongyun does not know, but he nods again anyways. Such is the nature of his good friend, he thinks as he watches Bennett head to the cashier and pay for the chocolate. He sighs.
Guess today isn’t the day he’ll confess then.
Today’s the day he’s going to confess!
So thinks Chongyun, albeit with much less excitement than the other two times of walking to the candy shop before getting distracted by someone or other and forgetting to buy chocolate. This time, though, he’ll be certain to leave the store having actually bought some chocolate. It’s almost Valentine’s Day; he has to buy the chocolate now! He’ll give Xingqiu a much shorter notice now, but that’s fine because Xingqiu is used to spontaneous changes in plans. How does he know that, Chongyun doesn’t know, but he can feel it. Maybe he’s reading into Xingqiu a bit too hard. Maybe his infatuation is getting out of control. Just thinking of Xingqiu makes his heart swell and his face burn slightly, but not so much that it’ll trigger his congenital positivity. Hopefully.
The humidity of the store doesn’t help. How is it even stuffier compared to his last visit? How many other people procrastinated on buying chocolates like he did? Too many for Chongyun’s tastes, that much is certain. Fortunately, there’s still chocolates left on the shelf, so Chongyun looks around for any familiar faces who could so happen to want to buy the same chocolates as he does. After a quick glance, there seems to be no one, so he snatches a chocolate and heads to the cash register. Everything goes without a hitch, completely unlike his last two visits to the candy store.
It’s only after he leaves the store that things start going downhill. For some reason, Bennett is also back at the candy shop and this time he dragged Razor along with him. Does Razor even like chocolate? Chongyun wonders, but he doesn’t know enough about the boy to answer that question. Bennett chatters, talking about something along the lines of how chocolates aren’t always seen as romantic so it’s fine if he gives one to Fischl, right? Razor looks like he has even less of a clue as to what Bennett is talking about than even Chongyun, so it’s no surprise that neither of them have an answer to Bennett’s seemingly rhetorical question.
“Let’s head out then!” Bennett suggests brightly as always. With the chocolate now in his pocket, Chongyun can’t agree more. The crowds of the shopping mall and the stuffiness of the indoors is dragging him dangerously close to congenital positivity and he wants no one to be near him if that happens. Seems to be a small if and more like a big when, but Chongyun has self control.
“Hey, isn’t that—!” Bennett points out, causing Chongyun’s gaze to shoot up from the floor. He stares down the crowds before seeing an all-too-familiar wash of turquoise hair before his heart stops.
And then it starts beating faster and by the Archons, he needs to get out of this mall or else he’s going to lose it. Of course Xingqiu shows up on his third visit to the candy shop. Chongyun doesn’t know if he wants to run or confess, but Bennett’s suspiciously wide grin and his obvious comment of “it’s Xingqiu!” leads Chongyun to think that maybe, just maybe this could be a good time to confess. Assuming he doesn’t give in to his positivity because Archonsdamnit his face is hotter than the sun and the environment isn’t making it any better. Does he confess or does he not?
Bennett answers his internal question easily. “Do it!” he cheers. “No time like the present!” Chongyun questions his friendship with Bennett for just a moment before he starts forging his way through the crowds to Xingqiu. Why is this nerd in a mall by himself. Why is this beautiful bookworm in a crowded shopping mall by himself. Chongyun would ask more questions, but by the time his thoughts catch up to him, Xingqiu has already seen him.
“Chongyun!” he greets warmly, as if the mere mention of Chongyun’s name didn’t royally fuck him up. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Bennett whoops and Chongyun knows he only has one chance at this. He doesn’t know if it’s the positivity hitting or if this is actually how strong he feels towards Xingqiu, but he grabs Xingqiu’s hand and drags him into a smaller hallway. In the coolness, Chongyun can breathe, but with Xingqiu’s hand in his, no he can’t.
“Is something the matter?”
Chongyun can’t bear to look at Xingqiu in the face so he keeps his eyes to the ground. He fishes through his pocket for the chocolate he just bought with his free hand without letting go of Xingqiu’s with the other. He presses the chocolate into Xingqiu’s hand, looks up, ignores the blush on his face, and with a very straight face, he tells Xingqiu.
“I like you.”
Right. There. He said it. He actually said it, holy shit he did it. Xingqiu just stares back at him, as if his brilliant mind couldn’t process three simple words, but then Xingqiu smiles. Rex Lapis, he smiles as if he were the brightest thing in Chongyun’s world, which given his intellect, wit, future, and of course, that blessed smile, Xingqiu could very well be the brightest thing in Chongyun’s world.
Xingqiu blinks. Blinks again. Then he says, “Well, I’m glad you were courageous enough to tell me that. If I were you, I wouldn’t have known how to go about it.” A pause. Chongyun can feel his heart drop in the endless silence of Xingqiu’s hesitation. Please don’t reject me, please don’t reject me, please don’t reject me—
“Since you’ve already confessed, I suppose it’s only right for me to do the same,” Xingqiu says. “I like you too, Chongyun.”
Chongyun doesn’t remember what happens after that. Not even Bennett will tell him so he doesn’t know exactly how Xingqiu, his boyfriend, his boyfriend, got Bennett to keep a secret, but every time he asks Xingqiu what happened next, he only smiles with a sparkle in his eye. Damn that smile, but he can never bring himself to hate it.
As for his confession, it seems like the third time was the charm.