Serendipity Hills Log WHO: Will Laurence and Lan Xichen WHAT: Having some tea and feelings in Serendipity Hills WHEN: Aired with yesterday's episodes WHERE: Will's coffee shop, Divine Coffee WARNINGS: Pining
______________
It had been yet another perfect day at Divine Coffee, busy enough that Will had stayed active the whole day, and not so busy that he hadn’t been able to converse with his regulars and to put a tray of cinnamon buns in the oven, which is where they sat now, filling the coffee shop with the delightful smell of roasted coffee and fresh baking.
His favourite time of day, of course, was the end of the day when the rest of the customers would slowly filter out and Lan Xichen would come in for his daily evening tea. It had just finished steeping when Lan Xichen came in, and Will smiled to see him.
“You’re just in time,” he said, bringing both Lan Xichen’s and Will’s own cup of green tea to their regular table. “How were things at the studio today?” he asked.
"Wonderful," his companion replied, which might have been an answer or might have just been his response to the perfectly brewed tea Lan Xichen was taking a deep inhale of. Accordingly, he clarified. "We had moment of absolute unified perfection in my Primary Series class today - the whole room, bodies and breath moving together like one organism. It was truly transcendent."
Lan Xichen was the sort of person who could describe a moment as "transcendent" without sounding like a pretentious twit, probably because he sounded so genuinely pleased about it rather than acting above it all. He was also the sort of person who could wear the much-maligned "man-bun" and carry it off like a perfectly reasonable hair style, though, so maybe he was just one of Serendipity Hills' many magical creatures.
"How were things in here?"
Will’s own hair wasn’t quite long enough for one of those coveted man-buns, and so he wore it loose; it fell to his shoulders in perfectly styled waves, though Laurence had never styled it in his life; he did, quite honestly, wake up that way.
“That sounds like it must have been marvellous,” he said. He’d never held much interest in yoga himself; hearing Lan Xichen speak of it was far more interesting to him than the act itself.
“Oh, things were splendid here, as always,” he said. “Never a dull moment, of course, lots of good conversation and holiday cheer.” Ah, how Will enjoyed the holidays. “I even had a chance to try out a new cinnamon roll recipe, which I hope you’ll help me test later.”
“I will always test a cinnamon roll,” Xichen warmly replied. He fulfilled his yoga teacher stereotype by being a straightedge vegetarian, but refined sugars remained a perpetual weakness of his - as did the man in front of him.
Will was his friend, Xichen reminded himself daily. Sometimes that was in an effort to psych himself up into finally confessing his feelings: Will was his friend, and would remain his friend regardless of any complications. Sometimes he gave himself that reminder to talk himself out of the same idea: Will was his friend, they had a perfectly lovely routine and relationship, and there was no need to rock the boat with the fact that he’d really like to lean across the table and find out how that hint of jasmine in the tea tasted on Will’s lips.
“Speaking of which, can I officially put in my request now for Western New Year pain au chocolat?” Xichen asked, putting all thoughts of romance out of his mind. “This week is slow for me, but the first of January brings the flood of new people with resolutions, and the paperwork alone will require buttery pastry and melty chocolate to survive.”
Will laughed: a rich, hearty noise that was heard often within the walls of Divine Coffee. “Of course,” he said. “Anything for you, Xichen. I’ll be sure to have a fresh pot ready for you every night as well. Do you think you might need help with the registrations?”
Will could hardly claim to love paperwork - he doubted many could - but it passed quickly and pleasantly when he was with Xichen.
“I would enjoy your company for it, if nothing else,” Xichen admitted. He wouldn’t put Will through the tedium of data entry, but he would absolutely accept Will sitting with him and telling stories about interesting customers while he took care of the data entry himself. “Especially since Sizhui has been so busy lately, I don’t want to ask him to pick up any extra hours.”
Normally Xichen wouldn’t think twice to ask his nephew to take an afternoon working the front desk or a beginner vinyasa class, but lately Sizhui had seemed booked for every daylight hour and many of the evenings as well. The end of this semester of school must have been particularly demanding.
“Then my company you will have,” Will said, taking a sip of his tea. “There’s the big game this weekend, isn’t there? I can’t imagine how much time must have gone into preparing for that. Were you going to go watch?”
“Of course. Can I drag you along with me?” Xichen asked hopefully. He liked going to his nephew’s soccer games, but like everything else, they were more fun with Will along for the ride. “We could go for pizza after - this is always a good time of year to forget about meal planning and indulge in some carbs.”
“You wouldn’t have to drag me anywhere,” Will said. “I’d be happy to go. You know I always enjoy a good game of footba - sorry, of soccer.” Really, he’d never understand why Americans had decided to change a perfectly apt name for a sport into something else.
Even if he hadn’t liked soccer, he wouldn’t willingly pass up an opportunity to spend time with Xichen anyway.
“Soccer-football and pizza it is, then,” Xichen cheerfully replied. He was having a good day anyway, but this made it a little bit brighter. Time with Will always did that…which was a reason that he should just ask him on a date instead of asking him to do things that were almost dates without calling them dates. But what if he said no? What if saying no meant no more of these not-dates, too? He could ruin everything by reaching for more than he was allowed.
Is that what you’d say to one of your students? If one of them were contemplating reaching for happiness, would you tell them to keep their hands by their side?
The voice was mostly in Xichen’s own head, sounding like Xichen himself. The voice was also audible to the viewers at home, of course, but thankfully not to Will. If Xichen’s internal monologue ever got out, he was sure he’d never live it down. He’d just bottle all these potentially inconvenient feelings up, wrap them in a nice little holiday package with a great big bow, and then stuff them in the attic to never be looked at again, as one did with Christmas presents, because this was a very good metaphor and happiness was too much to ask. Content would be good enough.