Every Universe

‣ convenience store AU

The teenager, only a few meters away from the counter, turned around to face Noah, and their left hand, which was holding the bottle in their pocket, didn't move. "I didn't buy a bottle of Coke."

"That's why I'm asking you pay for it."

"It's just a bottle of Coke."

"It's four yuán." If the ten yuán bill was all they had earlier, Noah knew they didn't have enough. Noah had only given them three yuán back in change.

As if on cue, the teenage blushed affectionately, as someone would in an anime. "Oh come on, it's just four yuán. I'll definitely owe you one if you do me this favor." They whispered definitely as though they were sharing some sort of dirty secret, and although Noah knew what point they were poorly conveying, he pretended to be oblivious.

"You can do me a favor and pay for it."

They closed the distance between them, leaning on the counter with their right arm, and flirtatiously batted their eyes a few times, as if it was going to earn them a free bottle of Coke. "Hey, what's your name?" Their voice was softer now. No one had ever flirted with Noah before, so he wasn't sure if they were doing it right or not, but based on how his parents used to talk to each other, Noah concluded their technique sucked, but their effort almost made up for it.

"Xuē Nàdiē," he said, not entirely sure why he chose that name, because that was his Chinese name he hadn't used since junior high, and while no one except his family called him anything anyway, he normally would've introduced himself as Noah, since that was the name he always used. It was always Noah, not Xuē Nàdiē, not Nadech.

"Oh, cool." They paused, not sure what they were going, but eventually carried on. "That's such a beautiful name. Your parents really picked out a name that fits your aura. Do you want to know my name?" Just for the sake of keeping the conversation going, Noah nodded. "It's Hannah. You know, while I do have a Chinese name, doesn't Hannah fit me perfectly? It's the perfect name for a girl like me." Girl was a gendered word, so he could safely assume for now that they were a she. However, it was her name, Hannah, that he focused on, because that name sounded awfully familiar. He was sure heard that name a couple of times, here and there, among the students who occasionally shopped at the convenience store. She was quite a topic of discussion, but he can't remember why.

She ran her right hand through her hair, out of nerves or habit, Noah couldn't tell, and her left hand was still holding the Coke bottle in her hoodie pocket. Noah was sure her hand would be bright red from the cold by now. "You know, the idea of a boy and a girl meeting in a convenience store is such a romantic idea, isn't it? It won't be something to make a movie out of, but it's certainly something to write home about, isn't it?"

Noah frowned. Now that she was talking about romance, Noah was lost. Noah didn't participate, didn't believe, in romance. It never seemed to work out in his family, among him or any of his relatives, and the only crush he's ever had in his life in junior high was ruined by the norm of heterosexual romances. It didn't matter, though, because romance never lasted. There was no reason to fall in love or romance a person because romance was a parasite. Love was a parasite.

And, remembering what happened to his mother, he promised himself he would never get infected, not even by this girl in front of him, whom he may be very attracted to at the moment.

Not that it mattered. Even though attraction didn't mean love or romance, this attraction he had toward her would go nowhere. That was what mattered. He couldn't act on this attraction. He couldn't act on these feelings.

Look what happened to his parents. Look what happened to his mother.

Therefore, the next words out of his mouth was a surprise: "Pay for the bottle of Coke, and I'll go on a date with you." Even though he didn't mean to say that, it was apparently the right thing to say, because Hannah pouted in what Noah read as a woe-is-me, don't-you-like-me manner.