hualian college au

chapter 4: dangerous

was peer-pressured into writing this (hahaha jk jk)

clothes shopping did sound amazing, and to his roommate's credit, shi qingxuan was very much a fashionista himself. in shockingly quick speed, xie lian agreed to shi qingxuan's request, chirping a "yess!!" so loud, the birds outside their window all flitted away. still in their pajamas, shi qingxuan had a hard time processing this reply. realization only dawned on him several seconds later, before he grabbed xie lian's hand and jumped up and down on his bed. screaming. all of the birds on the block were now no where to be seen.

⊱ ━━━━━━━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━━━━━━━ ⊰

(time skip to after they are done shopping. sorry, i just don't want to stall the gala any longer ;c)

xie lian felt spoiled rotten, but also so grateful that his roommate did all of these gracious things out of concern. feelings of nostalgia resurfaced as he recalled how his former best friends mu qing and feng xin would often help him pick out clothes as well, often to alter and recycle for their online thrift shop. this was a pursuit done largely out of interest in starting a side hustle for the first time. the pinterest scrolling? borne out of desperation and a subsequent obsession over fashion. 

the clothes they picked out were really extravagant, but pretty nonetheless. shi qingxuan, perhaps in the mood to attend the gala, has chosen a flowy white blouse with a black butterfly stained on it in ink, really similar in style to the stage outfits from bts' spring day performance at the 2017 kbs song festival. (lmao had to do this. jimin's top, i'm looking at you o.o) the butterfly was imprinted right on the chest of the shirt, and if someone were to take different angles peering at it, it almost did seem like that butterfly could come to life and come right off, flying away. shi qingxuan had also taken the liberty to purchase a pair dangling silver drop earrings with the same butterfly motif as the blouse. they were gorgeous, and xie lian could feel they costed more than shi qingxuan let on.

xie lian stood outside the storefront waiting for shi qingxuan to finish up and put away his wallet. he really had to insist on paying. as xie lian took this moment to take in his surroundings and the chilly weather that sent shivers down his spine, a motorcyclist skidded to a stop right in front of xie lian. a gust of wind slammed xie lian in the face, and he had quivered a little before looking to see who this person was. the person in question was about to dismissively excuse himself from the situation, but was taken aback for a moment. as his eyes widened, he let out a chuckle, saying behind his black face mask, "sorry your highness, my bad."

more than anything, xie lian was just confused, but those words seemed to rouse something deep in xie lian. he gushed over this man's appearance. this tall, handsome stranger looked put together even though he was evidently in a rush, and his voice was so-  indescribably attractive? before he could even begin to muster up the courage to respond to that, that same man winked at him and walked into the store shi qingxuan and him were just at.

shi qingxuan after having finally wrangled the last penny into his wallet, sighed and skipped over to xie lian. he was about to suggest that take a scenic walk back home, but seeing xie lian in the state he was in, shi qingxuan innocently asked about what just happened, sending xie lian into a fit of confused panic. as two best friends dramatically reenacted every detail xie lian could put into words (of which many were about the tall stranger's demeanor and appearance), the masked man now shopping for clothes himself looked longingly outside as he waited in the checkout line.

y'all, coincidental meetings are part of every fanfic, so it's finee D;

also i'm kinda lazy and can't write long chapters for the life of me, so sorry about that