— Ship: Chongyun x Xingqiu (Chongqiu/ Xingyun)
— Tags: fluff, event, short
— Summary: To help Xiangling with her Lantern Rite party, Xingqiu dragged Chongyun to find cooking ingredients with him, and an unexpected incident occured.
— Word count: 749
— Requested by Boba Tea
— Ao3
The closer the Lantern Rite celebration approached, the busier the atmosphere in Liyue Harbor became. Every nook and cranny was crammed with people and lights. Even visitors from various nations were able to participate in the most solemn celebration in Liyue.
Chongyun could not understand why he had to go so early in the morning, while everyone else was sleeping. He had just heard young master Xingqiu explain that their friend Xiangling was busy planning a great Lantern Rite party. So she requested Xingqiu to help her in finding some ingredients on the mountain. Chongyun was dragged along with him.
Of course, he would not refuse to support a friend in need. But getting up when there was not even a rooster crow yet like this was a bit exhausting.
Chongyun pulled out a popsicle from his pocket. He had been waiting there for over an hour and was starting to get bored. Xingqiu was the one who made an appointment, but he was late. He said that some precious ingredients could only be harvested in the early morning. Chongyun was skeptical as well, but made it to the rendezvous place on time. As for the young master…
Chongyun began to suspect that he had been duped again after eating the majority of the popsicle and still not seeing Xingqiu arrive. The second child of the Feiyun Commerce Guild was indeed a bully. Chongyun was about to go home when he heard a peculiar whining sound behind him.
Chongyun immediately turned around. Something crept through the leaves behind him while he waited. An exorcist's intuition drove him to instantly draw out the talisman and bring it forward.
There was a sound like a soft whimper, and then the bamboo trees trembled violently. Chongyun clutched the talisman tightly with one hand, and the popsicle with the other. He moved closer to where the noise was coming from, trying to concentrate as much as he could.
"Show yourself!"
Chongyun shouted and hurled the talisman at what he assumed was a spirit. As it turned out, he had just exorcized a rabbit.
The white rabbit gave him an irritated look, and then it stomped on the talisman he had just thrown and ran away.
Chongyun let out a sigh. Perhaps he was merely paranoid. However, as soon as he turned his back, a shadow was there.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The young exorcist yelled in surprise. Then he heard the other person's wild laughter.
"Good morning, Chongyun! You've arrived early?"
It was Xingqiu.
Indeed. If you look for common ground between all the bad luck in Chongyun's life, you will definitely see that Xingqiu is the one behind it all.
"Hmm, it was all your idea, wasn't it?" Chongyun convicted him.
Xingqiu simply shrugged and responded:
"What are you talking about? I arrived just now. I was going to ask when you came here so early."
"Didn't you say to meet you here before dawn? Now that the sun is shining already, how can we find the ingredients Xiangling needs?"
"Oh! Did I tell you that? That must have been a mistake. In fact, the ingredients should be harvested at noon."
"Are you kidding me?"
Chongyun frowned, and Xingqiu gave a sinister smile.
"There's still time. We can start climbing up the mountain now."
"I'm not with you anymore." Chongyun grumbled. He did not like being teased. "You promised Xiangling, so go find them yourself!"
"Hey, wait a minute..."
Chongyun took a step back and walked away. Xingqiu grasped his wrist immediately, meaning to apologize for teasing him. Much to his surprise, Chongyun stumbled upon the stone at his feet, faltered, lost momentum, and fell towards Xingqiu.
The same velocity forced Xingqiu's back into the bamboo trees, causing it to ache. Chongyun had lost his equilibrium and was racing towards him. With this momentum, the two would come into contact…
Chongyun hurriedly raised his half eaten popsicle in front of him. Both of them fell into a very bizarre position; their hands tightly gripping each other's, while Chongyun and Xingqiu's faces were only separated by a stick of icy popsicle. They were each staring at each other. Xingqiu had not even considered this scenario. And it made Chongyun's face hotter than ever. This heat was more than the sun. He was losing control of his pure yang energy.
When the two eventually separated, Chongyun furiously pointed towards Xingqiu, as if reproaching him. But before he could say anything, he had already passed out.
-The end-
