Chapter Text
He Xuan did not want to be here. He was tired, and pissed, and honestly, he would kill Hua Cheng the next chance he got for tricking him into coming to this stupid fucking party. Of course, Hua Cheng was not the only culprit, but, well…
“Come on, He Xuan!” Xie Lian had said, smiling. “I got invited too! Let’s all go together. It’ll be fun!”
“All right…” He Xuan replied warily. “Where will we meet?”
“Gege and I will meet you at the party,” Hua Cheng replied, a sly smile working onto his face. “We can stay a few hours, and then come home.”
To be fair, he should have known. The second Hua Cheng said they’d meet him here, He Xuan should have known he’d be ditched. But, the addition of Xie Lian had made He Xuan more trusting, and he had put his guard down.
He grumbled again, lifting the beer bottle up to his lip and taking a sip, before covering his eyes with a hand. Maybe he’d stay for another hour. Free alcohol is free alcohol, after all. He might as well get something out of this, since his invite was mostly a poor attempt to get Hua Cheng to come to the party. He remembers how nervous the girl was, how she had handed him two small papers with the address to her sorority house written in neat print. One for you, and one for Hua Chengzhu. He Xuan thinks she’s probably pissed he had shown up alone. He also thinks she probably didn’t realize Hua Cheng was gay, and basically married to his boyfriend. Whatever. Free alcohol was free alcohol.
“What’s this? All on your own, big guy?” A chirpy voice questions him, and He Xuan uncovers his eyes in time to spot a small girl with long, brown curls folding herself to sit on the chair next to him, cup filled to the brim with a brightly coloured liquid, and as she sips at the edge, she leaves a sticky, pink mark on the rim.
“… Got ditched,” he answers roughly, and leans away from her, watching the cup slosh uneasily, praying none will fall on his clothes. Despite the simplicity of the outfit (a plain black shirt and some ripped black jeans), he’d really rather not smell like the floor of a club for the rest of the night.
“What?” She gasps, leaning up into his space anyway, and she smells sweet, and He Xuan is unsure whether it’s her perfume, the alcohol on her breath, or a mixture of both. He Xuan pulls away again, holding his beer bottle up like a shield. “Who in their right mind would ditch you?”
He Xuan is stunned. She seems genuinely upset at the fact that he got ditched at this party, and even has a pout and a fire in her eyes that show He Xuan she means business.
“Uhm…” He Xuan helpfully supplies.
“Was it a girl?” She asks seriously, that fire seemingly burning brighter in slight anger. “I’ll have you know, I know a lot of people in this school. I could totally ruin her for you, if she ditched you here. I doubt she’d ever be invited to another party again.”
He Xuan barks out a surprised laugh, raising his brows at the girl with fury blazing inside her, making his cheeks flush the more she leans into his space.
“I wasn’t ditched by a girl,” He Xuan starts, but before he could finish, the girl suddenly moves a bit away from him, a small pout on her face, making him pause.
“A boy, then?” She asks, and He Xuan’s brow quirks. An interesting way to get his sexuality out of him. He guesses he’ll play along.
“Not this time,” he replies, watching her curiously. “But they aren’t out of the question.” She hums, looking down at her cup in silence for a moment, and He Xuan decides to finish his original thought. “It was my friends. They got invited too, but they ditched me.”
Her bright eyes are suddenly on his again, and he feels the need to look away, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck while the other presses the bottom of his beer bottle against his thigh, moving it in slow circles.
“Then,” she starts, leaning toward him again, and this time, He Xuan doesn’t move away, “you won’t mind if I spend time with you tonight, will you?” He Xuan’s eyes glaze over as she leans close, and he finds his gaze dipping to those sticky lips again, before they dart back up.
“No,” he says after a moment, voice gruff. “I don’t suppose I do.”
“Shi Qingxuan,” she finally introduces herself, face still near his, making a flush rise to his cheeks.
“… He Xuan.”
Her smile is immediate, and she sits up properly again and begins chatting away, talking about all the people that got invited, asking him about his friends, who invited him, his major, his classes. She moves a million miles a minute, and makes He Xuan dizzy, but he’ll take the attention where he finds it.
Because, He Xuan doesn’t usually get attention from girls like Shi Qingxuan. He Xuan doesn’t get attention from girls (or guys, for that matter), period. He’s not dumb. He Xuan is well aware he’s unattractive. His eyes are dark, and there are bags under them. His mouth is wide and his lips sorta resemble a fish, kind of? (a statement told to him on multiple occasions). He looks perpetually tired, and his face is covered in acne scars, deep indents that nearly look like scales, only adding to that fishy look people seem to associate him with.
Shi Qingxuan, though.
Shi Qingxuan is a goddess. Half her hair tied in a ponytail, making the curls look like a huge halo, amber eyes coated in a thin sheen of makeup, a strip of pink on her undereye matching the shirt she wears. Her lips are glossy, and full, and her face is free of blemishes. She is beautiful, and angelic, and exactly the type of girl that usually steers far away from He Xuan.
But, well… He Xuan certainly won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
He answers all her questions, and awkwardly provides his own. Shi Qingxuan smiles through all his stuttered sentences, and waits patiently in silence when he can’t think of more. It was all extremely pleasant, until Shi Qingxuan gasps suddenly, hand reaching out and snatching his beer bottle, as if she’s just noticed it, despite the slow sips he’s been taking from it the whole time they’ve been speaking.
“He-xiong! You like drinking beer?!”
He-xiong?!
“Uhm. Yeah?” He replies, trying not to let his eyes widen at the extremely familiar pet name she’s chosen. He watches Shi Qingxuan raise the bottle to her nose, giving a tentative sniff before frowning. Then, her sticky lips are on the tip of his bottle, and she lifts her hand to take a sip. When she pulls it away, He Xuan’s eyes are stuck to the bottle, and he’s desperately hoping he isn’t beet red.
“Oh, that’s disgusting!” She yelps, sticking her tongue out cutely, and He Xuan couldn’t hold back the surprised laugh that left his throat, the corner of his mouth twitching into a half smile, resting his chin on his fist as he looks at her.
“Not a beer drinker?” He asks, tone playful, and Shi Qingxuan blinks at him multiple times before she smiles back at him, flush light on her cheeks. It’s the alcohol, he reminds himself, even as she leans close to him. She’s blushing from the alcohol.
“Do I really look like a beer drinker?” She asks, holding up her cup for He Xuan to look at. “Here, this is what I like drinking. Take a sip!”
He takes the offered drink tentatively, looking down into the liquid. The rim is coated with that same sticky gloss on her lips in multiple places, which makes it almost impossible for his lips not to touch it. He tries not to think about it as he presses it to his own lips, taking a few sips before lowering it, tongue coming out to lick at the lingering alcohol on his lips as he swallows. Shi Qingxuan’s eyes are locked on his mouth, but she looks up at his own eyes quickly.
“It’s… fruity?” He tries describing, though in actuality, the drink was so much more. It was excessively strong, too much vodka, too little lemonade, and some sort of sour cherry syrup all poured into a cup and stirred haphazardly, and the intense flavors had him holding back a cough as it stung his throat. “But, it’s good!” He lied, smiling at her. The girl lit up like a christmas tree.
“Really? I can make you one!” She said, standing up, and reaching for her drink again. He Xuan hands it over, but is wholly unprepared when the girl also grabs his hand after, pulling him out of his chair and into the kitchen, where the island in the middle of the room has been turned into a bar, littered with so many types of liquor, He Xuan’s wallet hurts.
“So, He-xiong,” Shi Qingxuan starts, as they wait by the kitchen entrance while another group of party goers makes a slurry of drinks. He Xuan watches in slight disgust as the boy making the drinks mixes Fireball and pickle juice together. “What’s your star sign?”
“Uhm,” He Xuan blinks, looking away from the disaster happening at the island to the girl next to him. “I think… I think I’m a gemini?” He had never much cared for that stuff, but Xie Lian had asked him once, to be able to read his horoscope, and had scolded him for not knowing.
“Whaaaaaat?” Shi Qingxuan says incredulously, leaning heavily into He Xuan’s space. The black haired man feels his face start to heat up. “No way! I am too!”
This makes He Xuan lift a brow. “Really now?”
“Really, really!” Shi Qingxuan giggles. “June sixth, nineteen ninety-six!”
“You’re— You’re kidding, right?” He Xuan suddenly asks, staring blankly. “Are you joking?”
“Why would I lie about my birthday?” The girl pouts, tugging the bottom of his shirt.
“… Because, that’s my birthday,” He Xuan states, blinking slowly as Shi Qingxuan’s mouth pops open in delight.
“He-xiong, really?”
“Really, really,” he says, repeating her words from earlier. “I was a midnight baby. Twelve thirty-six o’clock in the morning.”
Shi Qingxuan is suddenly grabbing his hand tightly, staring into He Xuan’s eyes with such intensity that the boy feels like curling into himself,
“He Xuan. Are you lying to me right now?” She asks seriously, eyes boring into his with a seriousness He Xuan had not known could be had by someone as drunk as she was.
“What? No!” He says, and his hand grips hers back, brow furrowing as he looks down at her.
“He-xiong, I think we’re soulmates.”
“?!?”
“I was born at twelve thirty-six in the morning, too.” Shi Qingxuan says, and for some reason, He Xuan feels some strange form of pride that he shares this with Shi Qingxuan.
“That… That’s insane!” He marvels for a second, and watches as she bounces excitedly. “I’ve never met anyone who shared my birthday… Much less who was born at the same time, too.”
“Me either!” She exclaimed excitedly, and then giggles, her bell-like laugh floating through the room like a breeze, and they make their way to the island after watching the big group leave. “Ah, we should have joint birthday parties! It’d be so fun!”
He Xuan doesn’t bother telling him he only has two friends, and he isn’t even sure if he likes one of them.
And so, Shi Qingxuan makes him a drink. He watches as she, once again, puts too much straight rum, too little iced tea, and as she grabs a strawberry syrup that had been thrown on the kitchen counter behind them.
She opens a drawer and pulls out a spoon, brandishing it like a sword pulled from a stone for a second, making He Xuan laugh. She smiles at him brightly and returns to drink making.
“There!” She says triumphantly, handing him the cup. “One Shi Qingxuan special!” He takes the drink from her hand, fingers brushing hers as he grabs the cup, and watches as her face flushes and she reaches for her own cup again quickly.
He Xuan is ecstatic.
He worries, for just a moment, that this is some sort of dare. That Shi Qingxuan was part of some prank or bet that forced her to talk to the creepy guy from Marine Biology 3 (the class he shared with the girl that had invited him). But, as he watched her genuinely satisfied face as he drank the disgustingly strong and altogether too sweet liquid, telling her It tastes good, He Xuan knew Shi Qingxuan wasn’t that type of girl.
And so, his night went on like that. He Xuan would finish a disgusting drink, only for Shi Qingxuan to pull him back to the kitchen to make him another. Each time, they ended up back in the corner Shi Qingxuan had first spotted him in. It was secluded, and they didn’t have to yell over the loud swell of the music, but that didn’t mean there was distance between them. In fact, the more they drank, the handsier Shi Qingxuan became.
It had started with his arms. She would grab his bicep, lean on him for support, shove him lightly with a slight slap. It moved to his chest. She’d place her head against it as they stood in the kitchen, waiting their turn to make drinks, tug at his shirt to get his attention, swirl her fingers over the fabric to… to… He Xuan didn’t know what, actually.
Gift horse, and all that.
After a few hours of this, though, they were both well on their way to being wasted, too many drinks with too sweet syrups, mixed with lukewarm teas, lemonades, and sodas. Shi Qingxuan had long abandoned her chair, preferring (for some odd reason) He Xuan’s lap. She had her arm hooked around his neck, and his arm was wrapped securely around her waist, watching her with a drunk smile as she talked, swirling her arms in big motions and nearly sloshing her drink multiple times, before giggling with an Oops!
“And, then, He-xiong, you will not believe what he said to me!” She continued her story, face pouting as she looked at him.
“What did he say?” He Xuan asked, trying to keep his eyes on hers, but the cute pout on her lips made it difficult.
“Ge said he was going to start limiting my spending!” She exclaimed. “He-xiong, you don’t get lips this shiny with cheap lip glo—Oh! My lips!” She interrupted herself, rubbing her lips together and frowning at the lack of slide. “He-xiong, why didn’t you tell me my gloss had rubbed off?”
“Ah, sorry,” he mumbles. “I hadn’t even noticed.”
In truth, He Xuan had noticed. Ages ago. In fact, he had watched as she had licked the gloss off her lips, but hadn’t thought to say anything. Her natural lips were cute, and somehow still the prettiest pink in colour.
“Well, that’s no good! Give me a sec,” she said, before shifting a little in He Xuan’s lap, reaching into the little pocket in her skirt, fishing around for something.
“Careful, Xuan’er,” he mumbles, nickname leaving his lips easily as he stabelizes her when she gets dangerously close to falling. He hadn’t thought anything of it, until he looked back up at her face and saw her staring at him wide eyed, frozen with something clutched in her hand. “… What?”
“…Nothing,” she breathes, and He Xuan could practically see cogs turning in her head as she tilted it cutely to the side, a small smile on her lips. “Ah, nothing.” She opens her palm and He Xuan sees the small tube of lip gloss inside of it. He watches, enraptured, as she twists it open, and then pulls out the gloss covered wand, pressing it lightly against her lips. She pulls the wand from left to right, quickly coating her bottom lip, and then pulls it away, rubbing her lips together as she pushes the wand back into the tube, giving it a few tugs. He Xuan is completely enraptured, watching her mouth before his eyes flick back up to hers, only to fall back to her lips once again.
“Mm, He-xiong,” she murmurs, and He Xuan watches the way the lip gloss strings her lips together momentarily, making his eyes narrow. “He-xiong?” He wonders what she’d taste like. Is the gloss flavored? Or is it simply sticky and pink? Would she taste like cherry syrup? He thinks so. She’s been drinking it all night.
“A’Xuan,” he hears, and He Xuan is disrupted from his thoughts with a perfect finger pressed under his chin, tilting his head up to finally break his eyes away from Shi Qingxuan’s smirking mouth. “I’m calling for you, A’Xuan.”
“… Sorry, Xuan’er.”
Shi Qingxuan’s giggle is nearly bell-like, but she tamps it down to speak again.
“I was asking if you wanted some?” She asks, lifting up the tube and waving it slightly. Her finger is still on his chin, and she’s so close he could taste her perfume, were it not for the strong taste of rum, and vodka, and tequila, and—
“Maybe?” And, maybe it’s the alcohol, or the fact that Shi Qingxuan has been with him all night long, or her being on his lap, or something, there must be something that makes him feel so brave suddenly.
“Okay,” she whispers, and pulls the wand out again. He Xuan blinks, watching as she reapplies a quick layer on her own lips, before shutting the bottle with a twist. Confused, he opens his mouth to ask why she did that, when suddenly there is a hand gripping the front of his shirt, and Shi Qingxuan tugs , crashing his lips onto hers.
He Xuan is completely frozen for a moment, eyes wide open in shock as Shi Qingxuan shifts in his lap. It’s when the smaller girl whines that He Xuan is set into motion. His hands find her body instantly, one hand finding the skin of her thigh just under the bunched up fabric of her skirt, and the other pressing against her lower back. He pulls her close as he kisses back feverishly, groaning when her hands find their way into his hair, tugging it out of the loose, low ponytail it had been in. She hums against his lips and runs her tongue against the seam of his mouth, begging for entrance that He Xuan is quick to grant.
And, you know what? Maybe He Xuan is an easy man, but the way Shi Qingxuan licks into his mouth would be sure to drive anyone wild. A low growl forms in his throat, and He Xuan pushes further into her space, taking her tongue and sucking, tasting the cherry sours that had been poured into her last drink, and moans at the flavor. He keeps crowding against her, further, and further, chasing the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her lips, until he’s got her nearly bent completely back, her long hair grazing the floor. He pulls back with a shock, gasping, but Shi Qingxuan, somehow, stays suspended like that for a moment, before using her core strength to pull herself back up. Her face is flushed, and her lips are messy, gloss smeared across the lines of her lips, and He Xuan are sure his match. She stares at him in silence for a moment, before she’s leaning into his space again, lips pressed against his ear as she whispers.
“A’Xuan,” and gods she sounds breathless . “If you don’t keep kissing me right now, I’m going to be so fucking pi—“
He Xuan does not let her finish her sentence.
His lips are back on hers, tongue searching for more of those cherry sours she drank, trying to identify every liquor, every mixer she used. Shi Qingxuan moans against his lips, tugging his hair excitedly as she bites his tongue.
“Xuan’er,” he groans. “You bite so much.”
“Sorry, A’Xuan,” Shi Qingxuan giggles, not sounding sorry at all. “Your lips are just so pretty.”
This makes He Xuan pause, staring up at Shi Qingxuan carefully. He cannot believe the words that just came out of her mouth.
“…What?”
“Your lips!” Shi Qingxuan says again, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “They’re so full… I wish mine were like this.” And she’s pouting, as if she’s genuinely upset that her lips don’t look like He Xuan’s and…
“No, I’m sorry. What? ” He Xuan repeats, and Shi Qingxuan rolls her eyes.
“A’Xuan, don’t tell me you’re the type of guy that fishes for compliments,” she whines, but bites her lip with another giggle, unable to stay serious with so much alcohol in her system. “Unless you want me to give them to you? Cause, I can. I like your lips,” and as she says this, her fingers drift to He Xuan’s lips, touching around the edges and silencing any protests he had at once. “I like how they feel against mine,” she murmurs, before placing a delicate kiss to them, pulling away quickly. He Xuan moves after her, desperate for another, desperate to silence her words and line of compliments.
“I like your nose,” and again, her fingers trail to it. “Your cheeks.” Her hand is cupping his face, holding it like its delicate porcelain, and she is a gentle curator. “Your eyebrows, ahh,” she whines suddenly, pouting cutely as her fingers pass over his brows. “A’Xuan, I’m jealous. They’re so thick, but perfectly shaped!” She’s cooing at him, as if He Xuan were a baby, but his alcohol-addled mind can’t possibly care about it that much, because all he wants to do is kiss her.
“Xuan’er,” he groans, trying to stop her compliments with another kiss. “Please, no more?”
“Dream on,” she whispers, and barely presses her lips to his before she’s back to speaking. “Ah, look, A’Xuan, look here,” she says, pressing her fingertip to a spot on his cheek, moving it and pressing down under his eye, light as a feather. Then, once more, moving her finger to press under his lip, by his nose, under his brow…
“What are you doing?” He asks, frowning as she kept pressing against different spots on his face. “Shi Qingxuan—“
“Beauty marks,” she marvels. “You have so many of them, A’Xuan.”
Then, her fingers are curling into the back of his head again, tangling into his black hair, and she finally pulls him in for another kiss. He Xuan doesn’t waste time, licking into her mouth again and squeezing the skin of her thigh harshly, making her gasp against him. She moves closer to him, pressing her front to his, and through the fabric between them, He Xuan can feel the heat of her body, and the thrum of her heartbeat thudding wildly in her chest.
He’s sure his probably feels the same. After all, this is his first kiss.
Not that Shi Qingxuan needs to know that.
The thing that breaks them apart is a commotion by the front door. He Xuan pulls away from the kiss, curious to see who could possibly cause such a scene that the entire party has basically come to a screeching halt, everyone going to catch a glimpse at the person who has walked through the door.
“A’Xuan,” Shi Qingxuan whines, pouting, pressing her lips to his jaw and neck, the sticky residue of what remains of her lip gloss presses tacky kisses to his skin. “It’s probably just Crimson Rain, can we keep— Eep! He Xuan, help!?”
Shi Qingxuan is unceremoniously placed back on the other chair, having been lifted off of He Xuan’s lap by strong arms. Not He Xuan’s own, of course, but rather—
“Hua Cheng,” he growls, standing to meet the gaze of the man who had ditched him earlier. “What are you doing here?”
“If I believe correctly, it was me who was supposed to be invited, no?” Hua Cheng replies, before looking between He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan, a single eyebrow raised. “You’ve been gone for a few hours. Gege and I were starting to worry.”
“You mean Xie-gege was worried,” He Xuan sneered, only to get a rolled eye from Hua Cheng. “I doubt you felt anything of the sort.”
“Yes, yes, fine. At least let me keep some decorum.” Hua Cheng turns to look at Shi Qingxuan with a smile, and He Xuan has to fight the urge to step between them and hide her behind him. “I hope you don’t mind if I take your little Fish Charming home. Our roommate is worried over him, you see.”
When He Xuan looks back at Shi Qingxuan, he surprisingly finds a scowl on her face.
“Don’t call him that,” is all she says to him, before focusing back on He Xuan, a pout forming on her lips. “A’Xuan, you really have to go?”
“ A’Xuan? ” Hua Cheng repeats, incredulously, but He Xuan ignores him.
“Ah, sorry Xuan’er—“
“Yo, what the fu —“
“But Xie-gege is prone to worry…” He Xuan bets he has so many missed calls and messages from Xie Lian, he’s surprised he hadn’t noticed his phone going off.
“Whatever, come on,” Hua Cheng says, grabbing He Xuan’s arm and dragging him away from Shi Qingxuan, who gives a yelp and tries following after.
“Wait! A’Xuan, your phone number!” She pleads, reaching toward him, but as it tends to happen when being dragged anywhere with Hua Cheng:
He Xuan is swallowed by the crowd.