Chapter Text
Shi Qingxuan has a great idea. Just like all his great ideas, he needs to enlist the help of his best friend.
And that is how his best friend, He Xuan, finds himself sitting across Shi Qingxuan at a popular café nearby campus. He Xuan looks at the food on the table and at Shi Qingxuan innocently battling his eyelashes at him and crosses his arm.
“Eat up, He-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan chirps. “I ordered seconds for you!”
“…” He Xuan suspiciously eyes him and starts on his second serving. Halfway through the meal, he says, “… Spill.”
Shi Qingxuan pouts as he mimes being struck in the heart. How cruel! Can’t he just be innocently wanting to have a nice dinner with his best friend in the whole wide world? He voices out as much, giving He Xuan puppy eyes.
When he sees that He Xuan’s suspicious glance isn’t letting up, he sighs dramatically before saying, “Well, if you must know… I realised I have a talent.”
“For what?” He Xuan asks dryly. “Bad ideas, roping me in them, and pissing off your brother?”
“He-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan whines. “My ideas are great! And it’s so easy to piss ge off that I don’t need a talent for that… Why, I pissed him off by leaving the house like this!”
He gestures to himself. Since he is having a nice meal, he dressed up for the occasion, donning a flowy white dress and adorning his hair with matching ribbons. He even left his hair loose and curling around his shoulders, and put on lipgloss! Shi Wu Du took one look at him leaving the house and looked as if he was having a stroke.
He Xuan raises an eyebrow.
“I look beautiful!” Shi Qingxuan proclaims. “Female clothing, male clothing, does it matter?”
Then the waiter stops by their table and places a bowl of parfait in front of Shi Qingxuan. Shi Qingxuan quizzically stares at it – he hasn’t ordered dessert, not yet at least!
“On the house,” the waiter says with a wink. “For a lady as beautiful as yourself.”
“Thanks!” Shi Qingxuan says, never one to turn down a free meal. Once the waiter leaves, Shi Qingxuan smiles vindictively at He Xuan as if to say ha! He is beautiful! Take that!
“Anyway.” Shi Qingxuan places his arms on top of the tabletop after pushing the parfait to a side. “You are half right. I do need your help for this great idea to utilise a talent that has been hidden all my life until now. Please, take a look at Exhibit A.”
He Xuan begrudgingly plays along with Shi Qingxuan, turning his head to look at Exhibit A – where a couple dressed in white and red sits a few tables away.
The taller guy – a handsome man with silky black hair and snow-white skin, dress sharply in a red button-down and black formal trousers – is feeding a spoonful of sundae to his date. His date, a soft-looking guy with short, fluffy brown hair, looking like the taller man’s opposite wearing an oversized white jumper and loose slacks, blushing as he eats the sundae.
“San Lang,” the man in white says. “You eat too!”
The man in red smiles. “Only if gege feeds me.”
He Xuan watches the two of them feed each other for a while before his mouth twitches.
Those two are Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, and they are the cutest couple in campus. Xie Lian is one of Shi Qingxuan’s many friends – as a business major and social butterfly, Shi Qingxuan became friends with almost half the student population after his first year in Tian Guan University. He Xuan is the only one he deems as a best friend; and Xie Lian is another he deems a good friend (the best is only He-xiong, though!)
In his second year of University, during a dreadfully dreadful General Education class, Shi Qingxuan had the fortune of being blessed with Xie Lian as his assigned project groupmate. Projects were tough, but less with your good friend!
But unfortunately, right after class, a tall, scary-looking Freshman dressed in red with a menacing glare approached him, demanding to change project groupings with him. Turns out, that Year One is Xie Lian’s Middle School junior, Hua Cheng, and he wanted nothing more but a chance to reconnect with his gege – even if it’s doing a dreadfully dreadful project together.
Shi Qingxuan could sense the pining and long-held puppy love, so he instantly agreed, keeping it a secret from Xie Lian and watched from the side-lines as the two connected and became fast friends. Shi Qingxuan knows entertaining ways to pass time when he sees it, so he helped Hua Cheng: from inviting Xie Lian to outings only to cancel on him, leaving Xie Lian all alone…. And for Hua Cheng to appearing to save the day and whisk him off on adventures.
Now, one year later, the two are finally an item and super in love. Shi Qingxuan always feels a swell of pride when he sees the two frolicking in campus being all lovely-dovely.
“Behold,” Shi Qingxuan says with a flourish. “My masterpiece!”
He Xuan does. Shi Qingxuan, taking out his phone to take a photo of his free parfait, fails to see Hua Cheng glaring at He Xuan while Xie Lian was busy calling for the bill. He Xuan slashes a finger in front of his throat threateningly.
Shi Qingxuan looks up from his photo, and beams at He Xuan who stares back at him impassively.
“I realised that this is where I’m skilled in… As a matchmaker!” Waving his spoon like he’s making a decree, Shi Qingxuan declares, “I decided that this year, before my final year in Tian Guan, I am going to dedicate myself to matchmaking people!”
He Xuan raises an eyebrow, as if asking how it concerns him.
“And He-xiong, as my best friend in the whole world, I’m going to need your help!”
“Who is your best friend,” He Xuan retorts automatically. “Why do you even need my help? You know more people than me.”
“You know hacking!” Shi Qingxuan says in a hushed whisper. “To facilitate matchmaking, of course I’m going to need those skills!”
“No,” He Xuan says. “I don’t care enough about other people, much less than love lives.”
“You’re my best friend, He-xiong. My best friend!!”
“No.”
“… I will treat you to two buffets.” Shi Qingxuan holds up two fingers, waving them around and watching the light catch on his rings. He Xuan’s eye twitches. “Two of the best and biggest buffets of your choice.”
He Xuan paused. Then in a low voice, he mutters, “… Get your wallet ready, Shi Qingxuan.”
And that was the start of Shi Qingxuan’s greatest idea to date, Operation: Matchmaker, Matchmaker.
With his best friend on board, his plan is already half in motion. Shi Qingxuan cackles as he opens a fancy notes application on his phone (one that he purposefully downloaded for this pet project of his) and begins typing.
Across the table, finishing Shi Qingxuan’s parfait leftovers, He Xuan crosses his arms and gives him a level stare. “So, what now? I presume you didn’t choose this place just to ask me for help.”
He is right. Usually, when the two meet, it’s either at the on-campus coffeeshop He Xuan works shifts at, or at a nice bar near school so Shi Qingxuan can get tipsy on student-discounted cocktails while He Xuan munches on bar snacks. It is indeed unusual for Shi Qingxuan to ask He Xuan to meet him at a café, however nice the food or pretty the décor is.
“He-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan gasps. “You’re so smart! This is why you’re my Cupid Number Two.”
“… I’m leaving,” He Xuan threatens. He doesn’t.
In reply to He Xuan’s question, Shi Qingxuan points at the table directly behind Xie Lian’s, where two guys are alternating between glaring at each other and Hua Cheng, not too discreetly hiding their faces behind a menu. One of them, a strong-looking guy with tan skin and brown hair sweep back in a bun, stuffs his hands in his brown hoodie while saying something to his companion. His companion, a slender guy with pale skin contrasting with his long black ponytail and black clothes, scowls, twisting his delicate facial features as he does so. At the same time, both of them lower their menu and glare daggers at Hua Cheng.
The two were Xie Lian’s middle school friends: Feng Xin and Mu Qing. At first glance, they seem to be unlikely friends – Feng Xin is the star of the basketball team. Xie Lian is the golden boy, both a basketballer and an intellect majoring in Political Science, and kind to everyone he meets. Mu Qing is the smart scholarship student with a double degree in Literature and Business, juggling studies with working shifts at the same coffeeshop as He Xuan.
But the three of them, despite being extremely different, are extremely close. Around campus, they are always spotted together and stuck to each other – unless Xie Lian is on a date with his boyfriend like now.
“I,” Shi Qingxuan declares. “Am going to matchmake them together.”
He Xuan raises his eyebrow. “They can’t stand each other. Everyone in Coffee Roasters knows that. Half the school too.”
As in on cue, they start to fight over the last bite of the brownie on the table.
“I beat you for the Business Analytics class last week!” Feng Xin hisses.
Mu Qing rolls his eyes. “By a mark! I had the disadvantage of having my paper on Li Bai on the same day, so we’re technically even.”
“Are you showing off your double degree?”
Mu Qing looks as if he is going to stab Feng Xin with his fork. “Not everyone can afford studying in Uni without a scholar – ”
At the commotion they are making with their hissed whispers, Xie Lian starts to turn his head. Feng Xin quickly pretends to drop his fork, and both Feng Xin and Mu Qing bend their bodies to grab at it, hiding out of sight from Xie Lian.
He Xuan rolls his eyes when Xie Lian turns back to Hua Cheng and resumes staring at each other with hearts in their eyes. “Idiots.”
“In love!” Shi Qingxuan argues. “It’s all part of the sexual tension, He-xiong.”
For extra conviction, he throws in a wink. He Xuan does not look convinced.
Back at Xie Lian’s table, the two begin to walk towards the cashier as Xie Lian says, “I got to go back soon, San Lang. Today’s Movie Night and Feng Xin and Mu Qing won’t be happy if I miss it with them…”
In the background, Feng Xin and Mu Qing scramble to get the check while hiding their faces with whatever objects they have in hand. The backdoor chimes as two figures clutching their phones and caps to their faces make a run for it. Xie Lian remains oblivious to his best friends high-tailing out of the café, too absorbed in Hua Cheng’s eyes.
“Gege, you should just move in with me.”
Xie Lian laughs. “Not unless those two want me out! I’m afraid they’ll destroy half the house if I’m not around.”
The two continue chatting as they leave the café. Shi Qingxuan turns back to He Xuan, clapping his hands against the tabletop. “See! If Feng Xin and Mu Qing gets together, then Xie Lian can move in with Hua Cheng! The world will be at peace with two more happy couples.”
“That’s not my problem,” He Xuan says dryly.
Shi Qingxuan holds up two fingers, as if to say: do it for the two buffets, best friend of mine.
He Xuan sighs a long-suffering sigh. “… What do you want me to do?”
Shi Qingxuan smiles, battling his eyelashes as he says sweetly, “Can you help me access the school system and get copies of their timetables and school schedules?”
The next day at after school, Shi Qingxuan waits at a bench nearby the basketball court where the basketballers trains. Shortly, He Xuan appears, taking a seat and wordlessly handing over a bag of skittles Shi Qingxuan asked him to pick up.
“He-xiong,” Shi Qingxuan says excitedly as he shares his skittles with He Xuan. “Did you get it?”
He wiggles his eyebrows for the extra dramatic flair. He Xuan sighs and flips open his phone, and instantly, Shi Qingxuan’s phone pings with a notification. Opening his WeChat and scanning through the document He Xuan sends over, he quickly scans the schedules of the two he is planning to matchmake together.
“Ah ha!” he cries as he finds a common gap in their schedules. “This Thursday both of them have no classes, no clubs, no shifts!”
“That was fast,” He Xuan idly comments as he pops a yellow skittle into his mouth.
“Of course!” With HR classes he takes and projects that require planning big events, Shi Qingxuan is able to do scheduling with practiced speed. Pausing to run over his own schedule and He Xuan’s in his head, he asks if He Xuan has to work on Thursday.
“No,” He Xuan says. “Thursday’s shift is Yushi Huang and the boss himself.”
“Great!” Shi Qingxuan says. “He-xiong, let’s go Disneyland! My treat!”
As he was saying that, he is already booking the tickets online. With a few taps, he pays for four tickets, and smiles smugly. His plan is in motion already! With his luck, Feng Xin and Mu Qing will end up at Disneyland, spend a day of magical fun together, realise their feelings bursting under all that sexual tension, get together, and live happily ever after. Of course, as their matchmakers, Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan will go there and spy on them discreetly throughout the ‘date’.
He Xuan clicks open his WeChat and shakes his head as he looks at the ticket that Shi Qingxuan forwarded him. “How are you planning to give them the tickets? Go up to them and tell them your plan of getting them to ‘spend a day of magical fun together’?”
Shi Qingxuan smiles. “I have a plan.”
His plan is simple: get He Xuan to craft and create an email looking as if it’s from the café they all ate at yesterday, congratulating Feng Xin and Mu Qing for winning a lucky draw at the café. Since they were their 800th customer, they get tickets to Disneyland!
He Xuan sighs as Shi Qingxuan details his plan, but takes out his laptop and begins typing. Shi Qingxuan internally punches the air – he really had the best friend in the world wide world!
As He Xuan crafts the email, the basketball training ends and the basketballers begin to trudge off-court and disperse.
Hua Cheng claps as Xie Lian walks towards him with Feng Xin hovering behind. “Gege, you played beautifully.”
Xie Lian smiles bashfully. “Thank you, San Lang, but your skills were just as good as mine back in Middle School. You should try out next semester!”
“Only if gege gives me private coaching~”
Feng Xin shivers at the display of very public affection and hovers a bit further away from the couple. Mu Qing, who has been standing as far away as possible from Hua Cheng at the side-lines, comes forward to fuss at Feng Xin.
“Look at you,” he says harshly. “Sweating like a pig!”
Then he gives Feng Xin a towel and a bottle of water. Shi Qingxuan glances at He Xuan, catching his eye and nudging him.
Shi Qingxuan is in the middle of chatting with He Xuan (it is more of a case of He Xuan listening while Shi Qingxuan excitedly details his day, his classes, his teachers), when the captain of the basketball team approaches them.
“Qingxuan!” Shi Wudu, Shi Qingxuan’s brother by a year, calls. “It’s time to go home.”
Shi Wudu is tall and imposing figure, excluding authority both in his classes and on the basketball court. He shakes his head at Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan, making no move to mask his displeasure. He sniffs at He Xuan, sneering at his messy hair and gold earrings.
Shi Wudu always stares at He Xuan like he is one step from whisking Shi Qingxuan away. Shi Qingxuan is an adorable baby brother, but He Xuan is his best friend in the whole wide world! Of course he doesn’t look at Shi Qingxuan the way his brother worries about.
“Okay!” Shi Qingxuan springs to his feet and quickly starts to chase after Shi Wudu’s retreating back. “Bye, He-xiong! I’ll text you later! See you for our daaaate!”
As he shouts at He Xuan over his shoulder, he throws in a wink. He Xuan looks away from Shi Qingxuan, and Shi Qingxuan giggles.
“He-xiong!”
In a blink of an eye, it was Thursday, and a day of fun in Disneyland meant that Shi Qingxuan is wearing his beautiful female clothes again. He spots He Xuan waiting near the entrance and waves.
He Xuan looks a little more dressed up than he usually is, with his chin length hair in its usual scruffy ponytail, wearing a black button-down and black slacks. (He-xiong is the only one he knows that wears black clothes to Disneyland!) His gold earrings are the only thing in his ensemble that has colour – a stark contrast to Shi Qingxuan’s pastel green overalls, white top, and cute yellow sneakers.
“He-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan cries as he jogs up to He Xuan. “You look good! Let’s take a selfie!”
Begrudgingly, He Xuan lets Shi Qingxuan huddle up to him. Shi Qingxuan winks at the camera, holding his fingers up in a peace sign. After complaining that He Xuan didn’t even smile that much, he uploads the photo in his WeChat moments before tugging He Xuan towards the ticketing gantry.
“So what’s your plan?” He Xuan asks as they step into Disneyland.
Shi Qingxuan stops and stares at the booth selling Mickey Mouse ears right by the gantry. His fingers twitch as he stares distractedly at them, thinking how they would look in his hair, how they would compliment his outfit, how it was a quintessential part of the whole Disneyland experience…
“Huh?” Shi Qingxuan blinks before laughing sheepishly. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening…”
“They will both be here,” He Xuan repeats, referring to Shi Qingxuan’s ‘pet project’. “But they might not spend time together.”
Shi Qingxuan taps his fist against his other palm. “Not a problem!”
He approaches a part-timer, a small but cheery looking girl at the gantry. Her nametag says ‘Banyue’, and with an easy smile, a bullshit explanation, and a generous tip later, he manages to get her help. Passing her two cards he specially printed for today, he shows her pictures of Feng Xin and Mu Qing, and she promises to pass the cards to them the moment they enter.
Shi Qingxuan skips back to He Xuan, pleased with his negotiations. He Xuan wordlessly hands him a pair of Mickey ears, and he stares at them before beaming from ear to ear.
“How did you know I want these?” Shi Qingxuan chatters as he places them on his head, opening his phone’s camera to check how they look. He opens WeChat, ready to transfer the money for it to He Xuan when he shakes his head.
“From me,” he says firmly. “Take it. You paid for the tickets today anyway.”
“He-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan cries, latching onto his arm. “You’re my best friend!”
He Xuan scowls. “No.”
Shortly, Feng Xin and Mu Qing arrive. Shi Qingxuan quickly hauls He Xuan with him and they duck out of sight behind a Frozen standee.
“Huh, they arrived together…” Shi Qingxuan says, but he is pleased by it. This new development makes his plan better!
They peer over the standee, watching as Banyue hands them both the cards. Feng Xin and Mu Qing read over the cards, determination dawning on their faces as they glare at each other. Swiftly, they each took up a map of Disneyland and head towards the River Safari Ride.
“… Do I want to know?” He Xuan asks, referring to the cards.
Shi Qingxuan tells him either way. The cards he specially designed and printed on good quality paper detailed a fake Disney event, staging a fake competition between selected serial numbers on the Disneyland tickets. Those selected will have to play the given rides and games, and whoever earns the most stamps will win!
Feng Xin and Mu Qing are both equally competitive, and their rivalry is as famous as their bickering. Shi Qingxuan’s fake event is quite genius, if he says so himself – what better way to get two rivals to spend a day of magical fun together?
Shi Qingxuan drags an unwilling He Xuan along as they spend the next few hours watching and stalking the pair as they go on simple rides together. Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan didn’t even need to put in extra effort to hide themselves, as the pair are too busy with picking fights with each other.
“Did you just jab me?!” Mu Qing demands at the Bumper Cars, rolling his eyes as he mutters something about jocks.
“Ow! Motherfucker! That was my foot!” Feng Xin howls at a particularly thrilling Simulation Ride.
“…” Shi Qingxuan hopes he isn’t wrong in his selection of couples to matchmake.
Even at the carnival games aisle, Feng Xin and Mu Qing seem overly competitive, racking up points and racing to be better than the other. Unsurprisingly, Feng Xin wins at the basketball booth.
“Now that’s unfair,” Mu Qing says as he rolls his eyes. “Where’s the idiom competition at Disney? I’ll win that, for sure.”
“Nerd,” Feng Xin says.
Then he shoves the donkey plushie he won from the booth in Mu Qing’s arms. Mu Qing splutters, at a loss of words, and mutters something about how stupid the donkey is. But his arms tighten around it as he hides half of his flushed face in it.
Hmm. Maybe it was not a loss cause after all. Shi Qingxuan brightens up, and whips out his phone to key in the progress in his app.
Lunchtime comes, and Feng Xin and Mu Qing decide to take a break. They sit side by side on a bench at the designated eatery spot, sharing churros in what seems to be an amicable silence.
Shi Qingxuan looks at them and the churros forlornly, sitting a few benches away hiding his face with a pair of sunglasses. He is about to lament the hard, hard life of a matchmaker and cry behind his sunglasses when He Xuan appears holding onto churros.
Shi Qingxuan immediately stops moping. “Oh He-xiong… Man after my own heart! Marry me!”
“… You don’t mean that.” He Xuan aggressively tore off a piece of the churro and munches it.
After the churros and a lunch at KFC (Shi Qingxuan wanted to queue for the merchandise promoting some very pretty looking manhua but He Xuan points out that Feng Xin and Mu Qing are leaving, crushing Shi Qingxuan’s hopes), Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan follow the pair to a scheduled sea animal show.
During the meet and greet time with the adorable sea creatures, Shi Qingxuan thoughtfully hums. “Huh. You know, He-xiong, Feng Xin and Mu Qing actually seem pretty close. With how they fight and how worried Xie Lian usually is over them, you’d think they be tearing each other’s bones out by now!”
Mu Qing is having a stare down with a seal, who majestically perches as he unblinkingly looks at the man. Feng Xin, guffawing at the sight, uses his phone to snap photos. Mu Qing blushes, breaking the eye contact with the seal as he yells at Feng Xin to cut it out.
“You call that close?” He Xuan asks, scoffing at the display.
“He-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan exclaims. “Mu Qing is like you – behind gruff words, he is actually very nice!”
As if on cue, the seal splashes water at Feng Xin.
“FUCK!” Feng Xin yelps.
Mu Qing scoffs, but took out a handkerchief and helps Feng Xin wipe his face. Shi Qingxuan nods in approval before turning to He Xuan and beaming.
“Besides, when I’m at the coffeeshop, I always see Mu Qing giving Xie Lian and Feng Xin free coffee! It proves that he’s nice under all that gruff.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” He Xuan says. “I give you free coffee.”
“See!” Shi Qingxuan says. “It’s because you are nice to me! That’s why I loooove you, He-xiong!”
He Xuan turns away, intently studying the map of Disneyland in his hands. Shi Qingxuan pouts.
Before they knew it, the day spent at Disneyland is coming to an end. Shi Qingxuan hides behind a plant with He Xuan, looking at Feng Xin and Mu Qing standing at the entrance to the Tunnel of Love – the last item of the fake event Shi Qingxuan fabricated.
Mu Qing pales as he stands at the entrance.
Shi Qingxuan strains his ears as Feng Xin murmurs, “We don’t have to do this.”
Seeing Shi Qingxuan’s confused expression, He Xuan explains, “He’s scared of the dark.”
He does not elaborate, but Shi Qingxuan can guess that he probably found out during work at the coffeeshop.
Mu Qing rolls his eyes. “You want to win without me? Fat chance.” Then he pauses, his face softening. “… It’s okay.”
Feng Xin gives him a cocky grin, as if to comfort him. “Yeah, I’m here anyway. Nothing will happen to you.” He puffs his chest out in pride.
“Muscle head,” Mu Qing says, but his words have no bite to them.
As Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan watch the two enter the ride, He Xuan asks, “You don’t want to go on this ride?”
“Nah, it’s okay!” Shi Qingxuan says. “He-xiong, you should go on the Tunnel of Love with someone you love! Save your Tunnel of Love ride.”
He winks, but He Xuan looks pained before he turned away.
The two of them went to the back of the ride, where a photo booth is stationed at the souvenir stall. The photo booth displays photos of people inside the ride, and Shi Qingxuan is peering at the photos flashing by on his tiptoes, trying to find Feng Xin and Mu Qing.
“Hey!” Shi Qingxuan excitedly grabs He Xuan’s arm as a photo flash by. “They’re coming up! This is the couple that went in before them!”
The next photo that comes on is indeed of Feng Xin and Mu Qing. What Shi Qingxuan does not expect to see, however, is Feng Xin’s arms around Mu Qing and Mu Qing tightly holding onto his shirt, as the two of them are caught on camera in what looks like an intense making out session.
A random passer-by lets out a low whistle. “Frenching in the Tunnel of Love?”
Shi Qingxuan gasps, all but jumping up and down as he shakes He Xuan’s arm. “He-xiong! It worked! IT WORKED! Oh my God Feng Xin must have kissed Mu Qing to distract him from the ride! But my matchmaking worked! I’m amazing!!”
He Xuan sighs, and quickly yanks Shi Qingxuan with him behind a souvenir shelf. Not a minute later, Feng Xin and Mu Qing exits from the ride and walks into the souvenir stall. They look like they usually do, not holding hands or standing closer than usual, but Mu Qing’s lips seem a bit bruised while Feng Xin has what seems like red mark on his neck.
“Hey,” Feng Xin says, tugging Mu Qing by the ponytail towards the direction of the photo booth. “Let’s go see.”
Mu Qing splutters as he sees the photo of them locking lips in the middle of the ride.
Feng Xin, however, only grins. “Wow! That’s a nice photo. Let’s get it as a keepsake for our 6-month anniversary.”
?????
?!??!?!?!
6 months anniversary?!
Mu Qing only blushes, gently punching Feng Xin in the shoulder as he buys the photo and places it in a nice Disney-themed frame, tucking it under his arm.
He Xuan snickers. “Well, guess they were long together before you played matchmaker. Guess you aren’t that amazing after all.”
As if to rub salt in Shi Qingxuan’s wound, Feng Xin and Mu Qing start to hold hands. Couldn’t they have held hands earlier, before they even got to Disneyland?!
Shi Qingxuan is still in shock. “??? WHAT?!”
Operation: FengQing - success (?)