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The first time Shenhe spots the girl, she's with Ganyu at a bar, trying very hard not to think about the group project. Shenhe is cradling a large glass mug of beer and watching the door when it swings open and the prettiest girl she's ever seen walks in, surrounded by friends. Wine-red eyes in navy blue hair. A silver lip ring glinting in the low-ish light. She even has a saintly giggle, if what Shenhe can hear is correct.
"Shenhe?" Ganyu says. "Shenhe~. Come on, you're spacing out." She snaps her fingers in Shenhe's eyes, and Shenhe stops staring at the girl to halfheartedly slap Ganyu's hand away. "There you are. What are you looking at anyways?" Ganyu asks, checking over her shoulder.
"Nothing!" Shenhe manages to squeak out. The teasing she'll get from Ganyu will be relentless if she figures it out. She buries her face in her beer while Ganyu checks the area.
"A girl?" Ganyu assumes, without even looking back at Shenhe to confirm. "Which one? One of the group that just walked in... the short one?"
Shenhe tries very hard not to squeak out an affirmative. She also fails miserably.
“Is it the eyes? Ningguang has the same-” Ganyu starts, and this time Shenhe does lunge over the table, barely avoiding their drinks to cover Ganyu’s mouth with one hand.
“Sister dearest, I’d greatly appreciate it if we could keep my highschool years out of this.” Shenhe says. She only pulls back when she can feel Ganyu’s giggles.
“Alright, alright. But that means I’m right~!” She singsongs quietly, and Shenhe can already feel the teasing.
“We were talking about something else.” Shenhe says,instead of dignifying that with a response.
Yun Jin swats at Hu Tao.
"Shut the fuck up, you're gonna make me look bad!" She hisses, hoping desperately that the cute girl she'd seen when she walked in wasn't listening.
"Oh my god, you literally just saw her today. You haven't spoken to her. You don't even *know her name*" Chongyun says, reading through the menu.
"Let the girl dream, Chongyun. You and Xingqiu aren't the only ones allowed to fall in love." Xiangling was playing with Guoba. How they let the dog in was beyond Yun Jin, but it kept her from being more rowdy, so whatever.
"Excuse you. I resent that." The aforementioned Xingqiu says. "We can't forget about Hu Tao's paramour."
"You leave Yanfei out of this. this is about Yun Jin pining for a girl she's never talked to." Hu Tao snipes back. Of course, its at that moment that Xinyan takes her headphones out.
"Yun Jin is pining again?" She asks. Hu Tao and the rest of the table point subtly (Well, the table points subtly. Hu Tao Stands up and looks at her like she was observing a distant vista. Yun Jin is surprised no one comes and tells her to get down). "Right. The one facing us, I assume." When nods of confirmation are her answer, she tips back her shot glass and stands. "Be right back. Getting our girl a date."
Yun Jin desperately tries to reach for Xinyan. To drown the girl or choke her or something. Anything to stop her from talking to that girl. Hu Tao's efforts ensure that she fails in her attempt to preserve her dignity.
Shenhe is mildly surprised when one of the girls friends walks over. Black hair that seemed to defy gravity, black clothes with red and orange accents and spiky jewelry were a distinct look in a small town university, but Shenhe couldn’t recall seeing her before.
“Hey! My names Xinyan!” She introduces herself, beaming.
“My name is Ganyu, and this is my sister, Shenhe.” Ganyu says, and Shene nods in acknowledgment. Ganyu giggles when she says nothing. “You’ll have to forgive her, she’s a bit shy.”
“Ganyu!” Shenhe hisses. Xinyan laughs.
“Yun Jin’s shy too.” She says, and all Shenhe can think of is that the name sounds familiar. And pretty. Yun Jin. She rolls it around in her head for a little before tuning back in. Which, in hindsight, is definitely a mistake.
“Of course! We’ll figure something out.” Ganyu says, storing the planner she carries literally everywhere and her phone. Xinyan is laughing and putting away her own phone, and Shenhe gets shivers up her spine.
“What just happened?” She asks tentatively. Ganyu both waves away her concern as Xinyan goes back to her table.
“Flag me a waiter, would you Shenhe?” Ganyu says in lieu of an explanation, flicking though another page of her notebook. Begrudgingly, Shenhe does. The waiter comes by and Shenhe’s tingling gets worse.
“Long Island iced tea, for me and…” Ganyu looks pensive, “Where is Xinyan’s table?” She asks. And Shenhe can already see her demise. Her doom. And she can do nothing to avoid it. She points at Yun Jin’s table. “Wonderful. A strawberry daiquiri for the lady with the long navy hair and the red eyes, please. On Shenhe’s behalf.” Ganyu looks at Shenhe and smiles. Of course. Her older sister was an angel, or so everyone thought. She was a nosy meddler at best. Shenhe sniffed.
“Anything else?” The waiter asks, and Shenhe, not for the first time, thinks fuck it .
"Yeah, two jaegerbombs. Make that three.” She says, and then corrects, when Ganyu lifts an eyebrow. “They’re all for me, you meddlesome woman.” She hisses. “You’re almost as bad as mother.” Ganyu gasps.
“You take that back!”
Yun Jin had almost forgotten than Xinyan had gone to the pretty girl’s table, despite the constant looks, until some five or ten minutes later, when a daiquiri with Yun Jin’s name on it was delivered.
“From the lady over there.” The waiter says as he leaves the little glass on the table. Yun Jin reaches for it before Xinyan nabs it. She sticks a little white flag in it before sliding it back across.
“Ooo! Let me see! What does it say, what does it sayyyy!!!!” Hu Tao tries to lunge after the cup, but Yun Jin moves fast enough to grab the drink for herself. She looks at the little white flag, and the phone number written on it.
“You’re horrible.” Yun Jin hisses. Xinyan shrugs and downs another shot.
“You’d be here pining literally all night. Now, we got you her number. And maybe more.” She says innocently. Xingqiu and Chongyun vehemently ignore the three of them, and Xiangling is busy taste testing several platters.Yun Jin sips her daiquiri and thinks. Then she looks over to the pretty girl’s table.She seems to be playfully arguing with the other girl at her table. There’s One jaegerbomb on her table and four empty cups.
“She’s gotta be sooooo drunk.” Hu Tao comments. Silently Yun Jin agrees.
“You have no way of knowing wether or not she’s drunk.” Is what she says out loud, sipping at her drink.
“That’s her third jaegerbomb. She’s…” Xinyan cuts herself off. Then she flaps her hand at Xiangling, slapping Chongyu’s shoulder in the process. “Ling. Ling. Tell me she didn’t just duplicate her jaegerbombs.”
Yun Jin doesn’t quite believe that, so she twists in her seat. And there’s another waiter, pouring out three more jaegerbombs.
“Either she’s got incredible tolerance, or she plans to black out.” Xiangling says. And then turns back to Guoba.
“It’s been like 20 minutes since I walked…” Xinyan starts, and then pauses. Then she grins. “Oh. Oh I get it. Damn Ganyu, I like your style!” Xinyan starts laughing to herself, to absolutely no ones surprise.
“Does anyone have any idea who turned Xinyan into a maniacal laugh type of supervillain?” Xingqiu asks.
“She’s always been like this. You should know this. Its part and parcel of being in theater. Makes life fun, if you ask me!” Hu Tao says, snagging a bite of the various plates in front of Xiangling. Yun Jin turns back to the pretty girl’s table while Xiangling and Hu Tao argue.
“You wanna go over there?” Xinyan asks. Yun Jin absently shakes her head. Maybe after another daiquiri or two, but not yet.
“Ganyuuuuuuuu.” Shenhe slurs. Okay. Maybe the second round of three hadn’t been the best idea.
“Shenhe.” Ganyu answers. She’s not even tipsy, the bitch.
“Drink moooooore.” She says, reaching clumsily for Ganyu’s cup. Ganyu moves it away from where Shenhe is slumped on the table.
“No more drinking for you, sis. You are so far gone… I wonder if you’ll remember the rest of tonight?” Ganyu says, and that just confuses Shenhe even more.
“‘Member? Whas to ‘member? Jus’ you an’ me.” Shenhe says. “Not even the very pretty girl…” She laments. She looks over to the table. “Can I go say hi?”
“Want me to walk you there?” Ganyu asks. Shenhe takes a second to think about it, and then nods. She stands slowly, surprised at how little she’s swaying. The path to the other girl’s table is short. Too short, if you asked Shenhe. “Xinyan! I was about to take her home, but she wanted to say hi!”
“What a coincidence! Yun Jin here was getting a little worried!”
“I… it just seemed like she was having a lot to, uh… to uh…” The pretty girl starts. But she stops when Shenhe makes eye contact.
“Hi. I’m Shenhe.” Shenhe says. The pretty girl swallows, and its entrancing. “You’re very pretty.” She says. The pretty girl goes red.
“I. Um. Thank… thank you?” She doesn’t sound very sure when she answers.
“‘S Okay.” Shenhe turns to Ganyu. “Sis. Sis can I invit ‘er over?” She asks,. Ganyu starts to laugh when the pretty girl makes a cute little meep sound.
“Shenhe…” Ganyu’s voice sounds like she’s about to say no.
“Please??? We live nearby. She’s had…” Shenhe looks back at the table. There’s… a lot of plates. And a lot of empty cups. And stuff. “A lot! Almost as much as me! She can sleep in my bed, I’ll take the couch?”
“We were getting ready to head out anyways.” The other girl, the one that had talked to Ganyu, says.
“Aww, but we-”
“Just me an Yun Jin, Tao. You and everyone else can keep waiting. Call Yanfei if you’re
that
bored.” The girl named Xinyan says. Then she stands and helps Yun Jin, Pretty Girl, to her feet. She’s swaying, but only a little. Shenhe reaches out.
“Lemme help.” She tries to mumble out. Ganyu catches her wrist.
“I think you’d just drag you both to the floor.” She says, and Shenhe sticks out her tongue.
“‘M not that drunk.” Shenhe mumbles. Pretty Girl giggles.
“My gallant knight. Where will you be taking me?” She giggles again. At least… it sounds like a giggle.
“To my two bedroom castle!” Shenhe declares. She turns dramatically. And then almost falls onto Ganyu. “Sis…”
“Mmm?” Ganyu answers, as though she couldn’t already guess at Shenhe’s request.
“Can you take me home?” She asks, and Ganyu giggles.
“Of course. Xinyan, would you like to bring Yun Jin?” She asks, and Shenhe thinks that there must be some sort of sister telepathy, because she really wanted to invite the Very Pretty Yun Jin.
“You think she’ll be able to appreciate it?” Xinyan says, half laughing.
“Xinyan! Don’t tease her!” Yun Jin Says. Shenhe smiles. Her knight in… very dark, not at all shiny armor. Black cloth was like that, in general.
Yun Jin squints at the sunlight streaming through the window and groans. She hadn’t had that much to drink, the night before, but her hangovers were always among the worst in the friend group. She throws her own arm over her eyes. Blessed darkness envelopes her senses.
“Murgh.” She mumbles, shuffling in the sheets. There was a matching groan, only five times worse, and the rustling of sheets. That got Yun Jin’s attention instantly.
“Huh?” She mumbles, struggling to sit up even through the pounding headache. Blinking once and then again when that didn’t clear the spots from her eyes, she realizes that this isn’t her room. And she realizes what she’s in just her underwear.
“Stop. Moving.” A quiet voice next to her says. Yun Jin freezes and looks down. There, face down in her own pillow, is the girl from last night. Shenhe, if Yun Jin is recalling correctly.
“Shenhe. Shenhe, wake up.” Yun Jin hisses. She’s trying very hard to remember if they did anything together. She’s not opposed, she’d just like to remember it.
“No.” Shehe says, with a note of finality.
“Wake up !” She says more insistently, and only gets a glare in response. And then recognition. And then panic.
“Holy shit, I didn’t kidnap you, did I?!?!” Shenhe says, sitting up straight. Yun Jin takes a second to realize that Shenhe is also in her underwear. And probably does a lot of exercise. And then she fights very hard to keep looking at Shenhe’s face.
“You did not. We came home, to your apartment together. I… do not remember much after that.” Yun Jin says, feeling the heat rushing to her cheeks. And then Shenhe looks down and Yun Jin is suddenly much more aware that she chose probably the plainest possible underwear, and laf rushes to cover herself. “Sorry!” She manages to say, while scrambling for more blanket. Shenhe squawks herself off the bed, and thuds onto the floor.
“Shit!”
“Oh my god are you okay?!?”
“What the fuck happened?!?”
“Serisously are you-” Its at that moment, while they’re both worrying about very different things, that the bedoorm door opens. Immediately, they both shut up.
“Oh dear. I didn’t know she was that bad.” The other girl, the one whose name Yun Jin never got, the one with the blue hair, says. Shenhe squawks again and that turns into a snarl.
“Ganyu!” She says, and Yun Jin is sliding off the bed to help Shenhe back onto her feet. Ganyu, for her par, giggles.
“Relax, you’re both innocent. You were too drunk when we got home. You even asked me and Xinyan to stay.” Ganyu says, unable to keep the smile out of her voice.
“‘Oh no! Xinyan, stay! We need chaperones!’” Another voice that Yun Jin immediately pegs as Xinyan calls out from somewhere behind Ganyu. Dread begins to pool in her stomach as her friend starts to cackle.
“You could at least close the door!” Shenhe hisses, and its then that Yun Jin registers, for the second time, that Shenhe is very close to naked. And that her hands are wrapped around the girls stomach. And that she’s pressed right up against her. And only half-wrapped in a blanket. Ganyu giggles and closes the door.
“You sleeping beauties can get dressed and come outside for breakfast. We hav hangover cures for you and bacon for breakfast.” Ganyu says through the door. Yun Jin feels Shenhe relax against her and just manages to get them both near the bed before Shenhe drags them down, flopping onto the bed.
“Is she always like that?” Yun Jin whispers. Now that the adrenaline was gone, the little dwarf in her head was pounding away at her skull again.
“Mmm.” Is Shenhe’s only response. Yun Jin savors the warmth of the other woman pressed against her.
“We should probably get dressed.” She mumbles. She gets another grunt for her efforts. “...you’re right.” She concedes, and lets herself slowly drift back into the world of dreams.
Ganyu is getting done preparing breakfast, or brunch, to save face, when her sister and Yun Jin stumble out of the bedroom. Xinyan is laying on the couch, on her fourth or fifth episode of Master Chef, and the clock in the corner reads two pm.
“Good morning, sleeping beauties~!” She trills, and watches Shenhe’s nose scrunch up in the same way its done since she was a baby, with photo evidence to prove it.
“I was promised food.” is what she says, in lieu of a greeting. Ganyu gestures at the table, with two cups of herbal hangover cure, some painkillers, a stack of still-bubbling bacon, pancakes and maple syrup.
“How long… what time is it?” Yun Jin says from behind Shenhe, having not actually let go of each other. Ganyu giggles to herself.
“Two in the after noon. You’ve been sleeping off the worst of it for quite some time now.” She says, and Xinyan looks back at them, grinning like a madman.
“Everyone’s been asking about you two!” She says, and Yun Jin squeaks to hide behind Shenhe. Again.
“Pleaaaaaase tell me you haven’t said anything.” She says, following Shenhe to the table.
“Not a chance in hell.” Xinyan says, and Yun Jin groans.
“I’m never looking at my phone again.” She says, petulantly stacking pancakes on her own plate and Shenhe’s. Ganyu watches them and nibbles at her own lunch, a salad wrap from the vendor downstairs, until they drink the hangover cure. Then she grabs her purse.
“Alright. I’m going to be driving Xinyan home. The two of you enjoy your privacy and start planning your next date, sober this time.” She says, and gestures at Xinyan, who only whines a little bit before pausing the episode. Ganyu opens the front door for Xinyan and barely manages to catch a confused “date?” as the door closes
“Date?” Shenhe says, staring at the door. She looks back at Yun Jin, whos too busy stuffing her face with pancakes, which puff out her cheeks in a very cute fashion. Shenhe is suddenly bombarded with images of the mostly-naked Yun Jin in her bed and feels her cheeks heat up.
“Shenhe? Are you okay?” Yun Jin asks, after swallowing her mouthful. Shenhe looks at her and the images in her mind overlap. It takes her a few seconds to un tie her togue.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Hey, uh, Ynu Jin?” She starts. Bull by the horns, she thinks to herself. Bull by the horns.
“Mmm?” Yun Jin asks around a strip of bacon dipped in maple syrup.
“Would you, uh, d’you wanna go get some coffee?” Shenhe asks. And then trips over herself again. “With me. Uh, Not, like, not now now, but like, would you like to get coffee with me. Later. In the future-” Yun Jin’s giggle interrupts Shenhe’s trainwreck.
“Sure. Does after breakfast sound good? I found this cute little out of the way cafe you might like.” She says, and Shenhe has to fight to not short circuit.
“Uh. Yeah. After breakfast sounds, uh, sounds good.” Shenhe dives back into the pancakes on her plate.
“And then, after, we can perhaps do some of what we didn’t get to do last night~” Yun Jin whispers, dangerously close to Shenhe’s ear. Shehe can feel her cheeks heat up as she nods, thankful that her food stopped any embarrassing sounds.
“Yeah. Yeah, uh, I’m uh, I’m down for that.” Is all Shenhe can say. She decides to take comfort in the ceaseless giggles her lackluster response creates.