7 Dates

Date 1

Pacing around his apartment, Xichen ran a hand down his face as he mentally went back through the plan for the day.

"Okay, the appointment is at 6—no, 7:30 PM, so we'll still have time before that. There's a shopping district nearby that I heard is popular, so we can go there for a few hours before heading towards the restaurant. After that, we can head back and...I think that's it? Leaving me with..."

He checked his phone with the screen flashing the current time, bringing his posture into a slightly more relaxed position.

"...Thirty minutes to get ready. All right." Turning his gaze to the mirror, he took a deep breath before forcing a smile to his lips. "Make sure he's happy at all costs. First date...here we go."

Ringing the doorbell of his partner's apartment, Lan Xichen swayed back and forth on their heels , thinking about how to make the date best, anxiously waiting for someone to open the door. A few moments after he did,the door opened.

"Oh, it's you, you're here!"

Jiang Cheng's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, realizing the man was standing in front of the now open doorway. "Ah, and you're all dressed up too, how nice!"

"The way you're saying it sounds a bit...." Xichen awkwardly laughed, rubbing the side of his arm.

"Oops, my apologies, I didn't mean for it to sound like that." He sheepishly smiled, then eyed the inside of the room with an annoyed expression. "I was only saying that because your today's partner here isn't even ready yet."

”…I can see that,you are still in your pajamas?” Xichen muffled a chuckle hearing him groan out in response. "In any case, we don't really have ten minutes to spare, so please hurry?"

"I'm going, I'm going."

Soon enough, the man came into view, hastily shrugging on a formal-looking suit on top of a wrinkled polo shirt. He paused upon seeing his appearance.

“Woah, you look…!” Xichen's jaw dropped, then he quickly coughed, covering his ever-so-slightly flushed face with a closed fist.

"Anyways. What do you have planned?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Dinner, actually." Xichen responded hastily, grabbing ahold of his hand and tugging him down the stairs.

"Eh? But it's so early—!"

~~~~

"Hey, hey, what's the hurry? Slow down a bit, would you?"

"Huh—? Oh, right, sorry." Lan Xichen halted to a stop after hearing his words, pursing her lips. "Well, we're here."

"And where is here, exactly? Seems kinda early to have dinner, no?"

"Yup, I planned ahead for that." Xichen gestured to the plaza filled with shops and people walking around. "Apparently, this place is popular for shopping and stuff, so I figured we could kill time here while we wait."

"Ohh, I see!" Jiang Cheng nodded, giving his partner a thumbs-up . "Let's see if there's anything fun around for us to do!"

Xichen spared a glance at hid phone, biting the inside of his cheek. "Well, okay..."

The pair walked around the shopping district, looking in through the windows and checking out to see if there was anything interesting to take part in. Being a popular place, almost every store was full to the brim with people or sold out of almost everything.

"...another bust." Xichen's posture slouched, staring at the crane machine with disdain.

"I'm telling you; crane machines are literally inanimate scammers."
Jiang Cheng commented, watching him put more money in determination. "Here—let me try before you waste more money."