It would be a normal day without problems, but then again, a day with no problems is not a normal day, for it is impossible to happen and would be named 'holy' or something.

Xiao was a moody teenager, as every other teenager would be. But this guy worked at... Starbucks. A bad place to work at, but his father insisted.

"Hello, what can I get you today?" Xiao asks his customer, the words dry on his tongue from repeating it so much.

"I want a Venti Latte with ten shots of espresso please," The customer says, taking out their wallet.

Wtf.

"We don't serve 10 shot lattes here, if you want that, make your own," Was Xiao's verbal response.

"Fine the, I want the most caffeine you can fit into a venti latte," The stranger argues.

"Okay, what's your name for the order?" The worker asks.

"Keqing, K-e-q-" The customer starts.

"I know how to spell it, your girlfriend talks about you all the time through text," Xiao says, spelling the name correctly without any help.

"I- uh," Keqing was surprised by this answer and gets get out of her half-asleep state.

"Don't suffer from burnout," The Yaksha says, then goes to the next customer.

"Hello, what can I get you today?" He asks.

"A Venti Chai Tea Latte!" the customer says, giggling at their own order.

"Okay, name?" Xiao asks.

"Venti," The customer says.

"I know, venti size, what's your name?" Xiao grumbles.

"Venti," The boy(?) giggles.

"No jokes," Xiao says.

"My name is Venti," 'Venti' frowns.

"Ugh, fine," Xiao makes another grumbling noise and fills out the name as 'Venti'.

Venti smiles and skips off to a booth to wait for the drink. What a weird kid.

"Hello, what can I get you today?" Xiao asks the next customer.

...

Two days after the weird customer, and Xiao was still thinking about how weird that name was, if that was his name. The next day, the boy dressed in green did not appear, and Xiao was somewhat relieved as their little chit-chat caused some impatient people in the line leave the shop.

"Hello, what can I get you today?" Xiao asks, still filling out the last order's name.

"I would like a venti chai tea latte," An annoying yet familiar voice exclaims.

A sigh came from Xiao.

"And your name?" The worker asks, looking up at him. He didn't look much different from last time, aside from the green case in his hand.

"Venti! Same as last time, it's not like my name would change over just two days!" Venti says excitedly.

"Okay," Xiao sighs again and fills out the order with quick speed, as he has experience in ordering.

"And I'll see you later..." The boy starts, then squints at Xiao, "Xiao!"

"No you won't," Xiao says darkly, annoyed that the other was as excited as he was.

"Yes you will~" He skips to the same booth he waited in two days ago and hums a tune to himself.

After his drink is delivered, Xiao begins to be curious and glance at the green boy once in a while. The boy was on a computer, writing something and muttering random synonyms, then testing the word to another that rhymed. Was he a song writer? No, that didn't matter to Xiao, the emotionless boy with depression and insomnia. :D

"Ahh, after this drink, my writers block just went poof!" Venti's higher-pitch-than-normal voice shouted, then he grabbed a lyre from his green case and stood on his table. Now, standing on chairs and tables is heavily frowned upon, but not necessarily against the rules, but a nearby server went to try and get him to sit again.

"I'm sorry but can you get off the table?" A server, Ganyu, asks politely.

"Is it a rule?" Venti asks.

"No, but it is still impolite," Ganyu offers.

"Well I'm just doing my job, miss, thank you for doing yours," The green boy grins and jumps off the table, grabbing his empty cup and music case on the way. He quickly discards the cup and steps outside. Xiao's eyes followed the boy, who stayed outside and began to play a song, though the glass between them caused the sound to fade.

What just happened? Why did he stand on a table only to get off it? Was this boy playing to gain customers? Is this his new job? Xiao surely hoped not.

After a flow of customers came through in and out of the shop, Venti came back inside and ordered another venti chai tea latte, saying that it should be free for his 'hard work'

"No, there's no way that we can give this to you for free, unless it is your job to play then there is no way," Xiao explains through a moody mouth.

"But I asked Zhongliiiiiiiiii," He complains.

"Well then where's your tea bag? Mr. Zhongli always gives a used tea bag when he offers free stuff: as he is too poor to produce a coupon," Xiao explains.

"But the venti chai tea latte will boost my poetry and bardness, because, you see... I'm a bard!" He says a little more excitedly, which earns a weird look from Xiao.

"No excuse, unless you have the tea bag, then you cannot get this for free... And you're holding up the line again," Xiao glanced behind him then back to the boy.

"Oops, sorry. But what if I used tea bag? Can I discuss the flavor?" Venti tries.

"Fine," Xiao sighs, doing his best to keep the line going by discarding the green boi.

"It tasted like flowers were blooming in my mouth, but that's not all- It was the slightest bit sour!" Venti uses his hands to make weird motions as he explains.

"If you don't remember the tea, then leave me alone," Xiao says as he motions for the next person in line to come foreward.

The white-haired gay lookin' teen walked up and started ordering whilst Venti ranted.

"I'd like a pumpkin spice latte," teenager says.

"...and it smelled like..." Venti says in the background.

"Wrong season," Xiao simply says to his costomer.

"...Christmas apple bonanza..." Venti places a finger under his chin.

"Aww man, let's get the... Peppermint mocha flavored coffee!" he tries.

"Still wrong season," Xiao deadpans.

"...it looked purple-ish..." Venti kept blabbering on.

"I'd like a Pumpkin Spice Latte," A teenager says.

"Wrong season," Xiao simply says, ignoring the short green boy struggling to get his memory together.

"Aww man, let's get the... Peppermint Mocha Flavored Coffee!" He tries.

"Still wrong season,"

"How 'bout the umm... Iced Espresso Peppermint Mocha?" He asks.

"Still the wrong season,"

"Then the Holiday Blend?" He questions.

"Still the wrong season," Xiao huffs.

"Then an Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato!" He exclaims.

"Why are you only ordering seasonal drinks?" Xiao asks the customer.

"Oh! My friend Razor told me that the Cinnamon Doice Latte is not seasonal!" The teenager says.

"Well then your friend is wrong," Xiao says flatly.

"Peach Flowering Tea Hand-Tied Flowering Tea Balls!" Venti's voice suddenly says.

"Waaaa?" The teenager looks to his side at Venti.

"I'll take whatever he just said!" The teenager exclaims.

"I'm going to quit soon..." Xiao mumbles.

"I'll give you a random drink that I think you'll enjoy and I'll ask you to repeat yourself," Xiao points to the teenager then to Venti as he says this.

"Thanks! My name's Bennett! With two e's, two n's and two t's!" He says.

"What more do you need? Two b's?" Xiao says in a sarcastic tone.

"That's a great idea!" The boy named Bennett exclaims, hopping off toward two other weirdly-dressed people, leaving the next customer a chance to speak.

"Now that that's over, can I have my free drink?" Venti asks in a pouty voice.

"Sure," Xiao begins to hand the drink to Venti, who is too excited, "only if you tell me the tea name again,"

"Aww come on! It wasn't my fault you weren't listening!" He whines.

"Well it isn't my fault that you are cu- so annoying that you have to hold back a massive line," Xiao argues back.

"Peach Flowering Teas Hand-Tied Flowering Tea Balls!" Venti says, then yanks the drink from Xiao's grip.

"Next customer," Xiao says, as if nothing happened.

"U-uh, I'd like a.." The customer starts, but Xiao tunes out the voice. I know, very good for his job.

Xiao still keeps his eyes on Venti, who is playing outside again. Then some rando person in a suit comes up to him holding a fancy little card.

"Doo ou want two mke n ad?" The muffled voice asks Venti.

Venti took a step back, but then nobs vigorously, yanking the card from their hand. After the card is in the bard's pocket, he continues playing.

The next two weeks were basically the same, Venti would order the same exact drink with the same energy and hop out of the same shop to play some music on his lyre outside, attracting around two customers and keeping the usual visitors quite happy.

"Hey Xiao! I got money from my new job!" Venti shouts when it's his turn in line.

"Why are you telling me this.." Xiao asks, mainly to himself.

"Because the job was making a Starboar ad!" He exclaims.

"Why?" Xiao asks, for some reason continuing the conversation, filling out some random crap because it was his job and Venti was the only person in line.

"Because I got moneeeeey," Venti say, pulling out a wad of cash.

"Isn't your job closer to another Starboar?" Xiao asks, wanting Venti to go die in a hole because he's so annoying.

"It is, Buuuuuuuut..!" He starts, then he lowers his voice to a whisper and leans closer to Xiao "I have a crush on one of the workers here,"

"Even your whisper is loud," Xiao says.

Venti huffs, not gaining any sort of reaction from Xiao.

Unbeknownst to him though, Xiao had quite an internal reaction. Obviously, he instantly thought that it was Ganyu or Thoma because people normally hit on them during work but Keqing or Ayato would appear out of nowhere just to see their boyfriend/girlfriend beating the crap out of a person. But his second thought was... Himself. What if Venti had a crush on Xiao? That'd be so annoying. It'd get in the way with everything and his life and his job and if he gets into college after his gap year.

And he wasn't sure if Venti was gay or not, but he sure looks the part... Xiao then thought of a plan. Say one word differently in a sentence. He says it so much, and he also interrupts Xiao and says his order, so Venti's only heard it about three times minimum and possibly from other times he was serving customers,

So change the sentence 'Hello, what can I get you today?' to 'Hello, what should I get you today?' just changing the 'can' to 'should' should be enough. If Venti notices this change, there's a very high possibility that the very crush he mentioned was Xiao. Any normal person would notice but Venti would not, unless Xiao is his crush.

"Hello, what should I get you-?" Xiao starts with his normal poker face.

"A Venti Chai Tea Latte! Just like last time!" He smiles at Xiao, interrupting him as usual. Good, he didn't notice, I must not be his crush then.

But Venti was thinking Xiao would do this very thing, too bad Venti would not be fooled!

"Why the pause? You good?" Venti asks, snapping his fingers in front of the other person's face.

"None of your business," Xiao says a little harshly.

Wait- Xiao was basically never harsh unless they were being mean to another, for Xiao didn't care for how people saw him, he just cared about his family/friends. But Xiao began to be a little harsh towards Venti meant something. Did Xiao feel something towards Venti!? The shorter boy himself did not know... or did he?

In fact, Xiao felt a little sad after Venti didn't notice the change in his sentence, but Xiao avoided that. He didn't want a relationship of any sort with this loud, annoying boy.

The next day, Venti came at the same time later in the day.

"Hello, what can I get you today?" Xiao asks.

"You know my order, and I know that you're acting a little more down today, what's up?" Venti makes a little frown as he touches Xiao's closest hand affectionately.

This action surprised Xiao and he feels his face warm a little.

"No," He says flatly.

"Yes, and you know I won't stop pestering you~" Venti giggles.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Xiao huffs, then turns his body away from Venti, detaching their hands. This action causes Venti to also huff, but in disappointment.

"I'm going on a break!" Xiao shouts into the kitchen.

"Okay!" Was the muffled response.

Xiao maneuvers his way out of the counter and gets escorted to the booth Venti has claimed to be his own. The two boys sit across from each other, Venti holding his latte with both hands as he lifts it to his mouth, taking a sip.

"So..." Venti starts, looking at nothing in particular.

"Spill the beans, bicho," He takes another sip.

"What did you just call me?" Xiao asks, not offended by the word but surprised by his attitude.

"It means bug in Spanish, Six-Fingered José taught me that! But you need to answerrrr," Venti switches from happy to complaining, placing his latte on the table over-dramatically.

"Fine. I've been feeling weird, and I think I'm in love but I don't fully understand it," Xiao starts, Venti oooo's, but Xiao ignores him.

"Whenever I'm around-" Xiao begins.

"I'm accepting, by the way, it's okay to be gay," The customer interrupts, smiling like an idiot, then he felt the need to add "I'm gay too, in case you were wondering~"

"O... kay?" The worker didn't know what to say at that last statement but Venti does that one handsign that means to keep going.

Xiao formed a plan in his head, the person he was describing was Venti, and he sure hoped that he wasn't in love. But he has a feeling it is. But he was talking to Venti and that be weird so Xiao was going to talk about Zhongli, because Venti doesn't know Zhongli other than their one chat with the teabag crap and Zhongli is the first person to come to mind.

"I've known him for about six years now, but this feeling just started... I just want to hear him speak for hours on end. He has this beautiful deep voice and he tells these great stories," Xiao says, slightly describing Venti in a way, Venti did tell him about some random guy who taught him to play the lyre.

"His mood is soothing, I held his hand once or twice and I want to again," Xiao sighs, staring at his empty hand on his lap.

"I don't know if I want to kiss him or not but... I want to spend more time with him for sure," Xiao finishes, then he stares at Venti for an answer: crush or friend?

"This is idiotic," Venti says with a serious expression as be begins to stand.

"Can you at least give me an answer?" Xiao asks.

"No, it's already too obvious," Venti breaks the seriousness and begins to chuckle.

I let him know my confusion through silence.

"Whaaaaa, you don't know yourself? The second my crush talked to me I was head over heels in love!" Venti dramatically starts to sit down again, putting his feet up on the booth too the left of him and bending his knees up.

"I kind of asked you for advise," Xiao grumbles.

"So that's what this was... WELL my answer is! Drumroll please... You're in love! I don't think you're happy about that so I'm sorry!" Venti says, giving Xiao some finger guns.

Venti was excited, he knew who Zhongli was and that Xiao was his adopted son, so he was just making stuff up! Haha! Who would change their true crush's information/identity to another unless they were talking about their crush? Everyone! And if Xiao wanted to decline Venti's love, he would. Because Xiao doesn't care about how mean or nice he is! That's one thing Venti likes about him, his honesty.

"My breaks over so I'll go back," Xiao stands and begins to leave, but Venti shuffles quickly out of his position and grabs Xiao's arm lightly, preventing him to leave for the moment.

"Wait- Agh!" Venti falls off the booth, as when he tried to grab Xiao's arm, he had to switch to a kneeling position but momentum and squishy cushions do not go well together, so Venti faceplants to the floor.

As Venti stands up again, he notices that Xiao doesn't offer a hand to him, and he thought that was quite rude! But he doesn't feel mad, as he finds this funny for no reason.

Venti decides that he want coffee and sits back into his booth, quickly taking a sip before turning his eyes to Xiao again.

"Sorry, but I wanted to tell you something," Venti grins.

Xiao grunts in response.

"No, like, I want to tell you a secret," Venti clearly emphasizes the 'secret'.

"Okay," Xiao seems unaffected.

"I need to whisper this to you, so lean in," Venti covers his hand with his mouth as he begins to whisper.

Xiao understand and takes a few steps towards Venti, who's sitting in the middle of the booth. The worker begins to turn his ear to Venti's mouth, covered by the bards hand.

But before Xiao can fully turn his head, Venti leans closer, tricking the shorter boy into a kiss.

Xiao's eyes widened, the kiss was a short one, maybe a second long, but it shocked Xiao like the Raiden Shogun did Kazuha's friend.

Venti giggles then stands and begins to leave.

"Don't tell anyone, but that was my first kiss," The boy giggles, then it turns into a laugh as leaves the shop with an extra burst energy.