stfu!! @xiao

21. cafe

CAFE

you were supposed to open the café today, meaning that your shift started much earlier than it usually would. you got out of your bed an hour and a half before your shift started and got ready. you took a quick shower and then proceeded to brush your teeth shortly afterwards. you made your way to the kitchen and cooked yourself a filling meal. once you ate all of your food, you grabbed anything necessary as well as the $10 to give to xiao before you left your place.

as you made your way to work you watched the cars that passed by you and just enjoyed the short walk you had. the weather outside was nice today, with the warm sun and the cool breeze. by the time you arrived at the café the manager seemed to have already unlocked the door and turned on the lights hanging along the windows.

you walked inside, put on your apron, and then cleaned some spots that weren't thoroughly wiped down beforehand. afterwards, you started to restock the cups as well as the ingredients needed for some of the drinks. you then stood behind the counter and simply waited for any customers to enter, occasionally going on your phone whenever your manager wasn't looking at you.

the mornings were always usually busier in the mornings compared to the afternoon yet today there seemed to be no customers coming in yet. your manager kept on checking in on you time to time, making sure you weren't taking advantage of the free time you had to do something else. yet, after doing this about five times, they stopped.

a few minutes later, xiao had finally arrived. he walked through the doors and seemed pretty tired. you both greeted each other as he went to the back to grab his apron and put it on as well. you could hear the manager questioning him and why he was so late for a bit before he returned to the front counter.

you stared at his face for a few seconds before speaking up, "are you okay?" you asked. he looked over at you and slowly nodded before yawning. "i'm good, just really tired. i accidentally slept through my alarm." he explained. "ah, i see. oh! i also have your $10 here, thanks for helping me with my assignment again. i got a 100 on it thanks to you." you said as you gave him the $10. a slight smile formed on his face after hearing about your grade on the assignment, "im glad to hear that, thanks for the money." he replied.

your conversation was cut short as a couple customers had walked in all around the same time. you were taking their orders and made some of their drinks while xiao was handing them out to the customers. you noticed that he had improved by a lot compared to his first day working there.

more and more customers were coming in and out, they were ordering things like bread, cake pops, and coffee. a few of them were eating at the tables in the café while some left after getting their order.

after you were done taking everyone's orders in the meantime and xiao had finished handing them all out, you both stood behind the counters again. you were looking at the doors to see if anyone else was entering and so was xiao. a couple minutes had passed like this and you thought it was pretty awkward between you two, leading you to start another conversation again.

"good to see that you haven't spilled anyone's drinks so far." you teased. he looked over at you and shook his head, "that was something else, it's never gonna happen again." he stated."okay, i totally believe you." you said sarcastically. xiao didn't say anything for a few seconds, he stood still and sighed before he spoke again. "to be honest i was being extra careful today just to make sure that doesn't happen again. don't jinx it." he replied.

you heard his response and laughed a little, finding his actions to be cute. "don't worry, if it ever happens again i'll help you clean up the spill this time." you replied. he nodded his head, "alright."

by the time you two were done talking, another group of customers were walking in and you both got back to your job again. you were taking their orders and xiao was handing them all out once again. while he was doing this you were watching him hand out all the foods and drinks. he was walking much more slower and steadily, not rushing whenever he was holding more than two things at once.

soon enough, your shift was over and you went to the back to take off your apron and so did xiao. when you came back out to the front with xiao, you saw hu tao and ganyu entering the café as they were both working the shift right after you. you greeted them.

"oh hi! i didn't know you two were working right after us." you said. "oh, we didn't either. nice to see you though. you didn't leave a mess, right?" ganyu questioned. you shook your head and smiled, "nope, the morning was less busier than usual so it wasn't as bad as i thought." you replied.

after conversing a little more you left the café and waved bye to xiao. despite your shift today not being the most eventful or interesting, you were pleased with being able to spend some time with xiao, and although he wouldn't admit it out loud, so was he.

sorry for the lack of updates again guys 😓😓

i had some freetime today and really wanted to at least publish one chapter bc i haven't in so long 😆😆

if there's any spelling errors and what not you can point them out!! 😉😉😇😇

also thank you guys sm for reading this story even though my updates are so inconsistent i'm actually so grateful 😓😓🙏🙏

have a good day/night, love you all sm 🫶 🫶 🫶