pairing ‣ Delilah Murphy x Harrison Chang

prompt ‣ "we're classmates and I don't know that well but you're too cold to even want sakura peach black tea and there's only one left, I will fight you" convenience store AU

notes ‣ it's been exactly one year since I published convenience store AU, and to celebrate its anniversary, I decided to publish another convenience store AU (but I couldn't name two fics "convenience store AU", so I named this one "classmates AU"), but this time about two different characters! this is significantly shorter than convenience store AU (and this also might be ridiculed with more typos, I did not proofread this), but I hope you enjoy!

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"None of my notes make any sense."

"You always say that." Delilah stuffed her pencil case and notebooks in her backpack with one hand. "It's never true."

"It's actually true this time. I wrote something about weather being a motif in the book, but what does that even mean?" Papers shuffle in the background. A highlighter, or maybe a wooden pencil, rolls off the coffee table. Some pop song is filters through the connection on low volume. "I don't even know what these notes mean! What is the Jazz Age? Who are the 'the lost generation'? I'm not American! Someone explain this to me."

"Do you think I can explain it? I could barely read the Chinese version of The Catcher in the Rye. It's all sort of your fault for taking an advanced English class." Zipping her backpack up with only her left hand, Delilah pulls it over her shoulder and says goodbye to a few of her classmates. She says a quick goodbye to her homeroom teacher before heading down the hall. "You should be studying for the Gāokǎo, not reading books in a different language."

"Okay, fair enough, but at least Catcher makes sense! I started reading it earlier this week, and it's so, so much easier. In The Great Gatsby, the political and socioeconomic background is super essential to understand the book, so everything is way too difficult to understand." Hannah sighed dramatically. Delilah imagined her faux fainting onto her couch. "I spent all day today reviewing for our test on Monday, but I still feel super dumb."

Delilah glanced through a window into another liberal arts class, where a student was writing I will read not read manga in class over and over on the blackboard. "That reminds me. Shouldn't you be at school right now?"

"Staff development day," she said, as if it explained anything. Well, it sort of did. Hannah went to an all-female high school in Shànghǎi, not only because her family could afford that, but because Hannah was going to do something with her life. She was going to leave their city of Chángchūn and do something with her life, probably in America. "Okay, but let's get to the point. Nick is gay, right? Is that something we're not going to talk about in class?"

"I haven't even read the book, Hannah. You shouldn't be asking me." Delilah starts walking down the stairs. "You understand Catcher. That's more than what I can pull off."

Hannah groaned. "I'm so doomed. I still don't understand the American Dream. I thought we were in China? Why do I have to learn this?"

"Because you go to some fancy school in Shànghǎi."

"Fair enough." Hannah tapped her pen against the edge of the coffee table, an old habit that her classmates were bound to love. "Anyway, I'm done complaining. How's school?"

"Uh, it's okay." Delilah wasn't quite as smart as Hannah, and she didn't want to have to explain that getting B's was normal for some people, and that Delilah could barely get C's nowadays. "Nothing much is going on, really. Mostly just busy, busy, busy."

"Yeah, I get that." Hannah sighed, shifted around on her side. "So, quick question, but have you seen Harrison around lately?"

Delilah didn't really know why Hannah ever asked, since she never knew gossip on Harrison. "No, just ask Joshua. Don't you guys live directly across from them?"

"Joshua won't give me that hot gossip."

"I see." She didn't, really. She didn't realize understand why Hannah needed gossip from her, when Hannah could easily just ask Harrison herself.

People began shipping Hannah and Harrison in elementary school, with the matching pencil cases and the walking home together and the borrowing each other's clothes and the switching school uniforms. According to Hannah, they never have been and never will be romantically interested in each other and would always remain good friends. That didn't stop the rumors. All throughout junior high, and even in high school, when Hannah lives in another city, people still talked about the two. After all, they were childhood best friends and hardcore academics from families that have known each other for generations. They were a match made in heaven.

"Well, to be honest, I haven't seen Harrison in a while." Delilah made her way out the front door, pushing it open with only her shoulder, and headed out into the courtyard, sun shining overheard. She waved at a few regular parents who came to pick up their children. "We're not really in the same social circles, you know."

"That's true." Hannah sighed. "Well, if you do hear something about them, tell me, okay? I need to tell them seomthing."

"Yeah, sure." Delilah could see why people shipped the two, given the way Hannah acted around Harrison, but Delilah knew something most didn't: Hannah liked this boy in Shànghǎi, someone named Nàdiē (she forgot his last name already). Apparently the two kissed in the library on White Day, making him Hannah's second kiss, and Hannah had gotten a white chocolate bar from him as a gift. Delilah didn't know much else, including whether or not they were actually dating or not. "What do you need to tell them?"

"That they still owe me twenty yuán."

Delilah laughed. Of course it was something as normal as that. "Sure, okay. You know what, if I ever see them, I'll tell them that."

"Really? Thanks!"

"Yeah, no problem." She looked both ways, saw no cars, and crossed the street. "So what are you doing today, since you don't have school?"

"Study for the test on Monday that I'm obviously going to fail."

"I'm sure you're not going to fail." She was telling the truth. When Hannah put her mind to something, she normally didn't stop until she succeeded.

"I totally believe you." Hannah sighed. "What about you? What are you doing tonight?"

Delilah tapped her chin for a few seconds. "Well, tonight I was just going to cook dinner and study a bit of math and finish my bǔxíbān homework before going there."

"That's cool. It's weird, but I sort of miss going to bǔxíbān."

"You shouldn't. It's super boring." Delilah pulled her arm out of one her backpack straps and unzipped the front pocket for her wallet. "I'm actually going to the convenience store right now to buy a drink and maybe some chips. Any recommendations?"

Hannah perked up at the mention of food. She loved food on another level entirely. When Delilah mentioned she was going to Pizza Hut, Hannah would sometimes start crying out of jealousy. "Did you ever try sakura peach black tea? If not, you should try that."

"I did try it!" Delilah gained a few stares from her shout. "It's so good. I did not think it would taste so good, but I loved it. I think I'm going to get that today, actually. It was so good last time."

"Go do that. I'm so jealous. The closest convenience store from school doesn't keep it in stock, which sucks. Oh, by the way, did I tell you I tried to steal Coca Cola from them once?"

"Wait, what? Goody-two-shoes Hannah tried to steal soda from a convenience store?"

"In my defense, I actually thought it would work since, well, the place is pretty small."

"You didn't tell me this at all!"

"Really? It was months ago. Well, basically I..." Her voice trailed off, and then there was silence for a few seconds. "Delilah?"

"Yeah?"

"Samuel just got home. I need to go help him with something. Talk to you later?"

"Yeah, totally. Talk to you later."

"Bye!" Hannah hung up, and Delilah stuffed her phone in her backpack and then went in the direction of the nearest convenience store.

Even though school just got out, the place was practically empty. A few students were gathered in the corner, debating what kind of chips to get and what soda to pair with it, and an elementary schooler was being dragged through by what she assumed as their parent. Delilah avoided these groups and headed straight to the refrigerators, looking for a sakura peach black tea.

Nothing.

Normally they were back here, or at least they were last time.

She went to another section of the convenience store, scanning each row meticulously. Eventually in a commercial refrigerator, she found a solitary bottle amongst bottles of Bīnghóngchá. She reached out to open the refrigerator door, but the moment her hand hovered over the handle, another did as well.

Freezing, she glanced up. They did the same thing.

And that was how she ended up face-to-face with Harrison Chang, who was much taller than she remembered.

They both pulled away from the drinks at the same time and opened their mouths to offer it to the other person, meaning they ended back at square one. Harrison rubbed the back of their neck. Delilah attempted to find something, anything, to say, but she barely knew Harrison.

She knew they were Hannah's childhood best friend. She knew they were currently best friends with Quinton Aoki, the Japanese boy who had been born in Shànghǎi and grew up here in Chángchūn. She knew they were cold and emotionless, never talking to anyone outside of class or outside his small social circles.

However, despite all that she didn't know about them, what came out of her mouth was, "Hannah says you owe her twenty yuán." Not hi, Harrison, not do you go by Harrison or Weiying?, not no, you can have the drink. T

They snapped back, "She owes me dinner for ditching me last time to study," and right after the last word leaves their mouth, their eyes widened. They hadn't intended to say any of that, but did almost out of habit.

"Well, um." Delilah eyed the sakura peach black tea bottle, the only one in the fridge with a pastel pink label. "She didn't tell me about that."

They didn't say anything in response.

"So, um... I didn't know you drank sakura peach black tea."

Suddenly they relaxed. Shoulders less tense, voice less defensive. "It tastes good." Harrison stayed at the tile underneath their feet and bit their bottom lip, almost as if they were nervous. Delilah knew Harrison would never be nervous, though. "You like it too?"

"Yeah, it's super good." Delilah played with the zipper on her wallet for a minute, and then frowned as she registered their words. "Wait, seriously, you drink this stuff? You drink sakura peach black tea? The one with a pink label? Oh, come on. Admittingly, I don't know you that well, but I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't drink sakura peach black tea in a million years. It's not you, Harrison."

They looked up, eyebrows furrowed together. The group of students in the corner decided on cucumber flavored chips and 7-Up. "What?"

"Look, no offense to you, but you're way too cold to even drink that stuff. Sakura peach black tea is for people who actually show excitement for things about the world, you know? You look like you drink oolong tea or jasmine tea or something sophisticated like that. Come on, Hannah's told me about how you know exactly what temperature and how long to steep green tea bags. How do you drink tea like that but actually enjoy sakura peach-"

"Did you call me Harrison?"

"What?" Delilah blinked. "Your name is Harrison, right? Of course I'll call you that. It's your name. Come on. Why aren't you focusing on the fact that-"

"Only Hannah calls me Harrison."

Delilah screwed up. She somehow crossed a line painted neon orange, a line she should've seen but didn't. Of course there was a reason Delilah had only heard Hannah call them Harrison. Of course there was a reason everyone else she knew called them Wěiyíng.

Instead of apologizing, or even displaying any amount of guilt she contained, Delilah blurted, "You can't guilt trip me into giving you the bottle of sakura peach black tea."

And she screwed up again. She was absolutely mortified. There was no way she said that to Harrison, one of Hannah's best friend. She was never going to live this down.

Delilah began thinking of a thousand ways to make this right. She could apologize or say something funny or just leave or explain that she's tired from school and bǔxíbān and she didn't didn't mean it or even just...

Harrison was laughing. They were laughing so hard that they had to clutch their stomach as they bent over. The elementary school student from earlier stopped examining the selection of gum and stared at Harrison, straight black hair falling over their face as they laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

If personality was an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about them.

"Um, what did I say? I wasn't being funny. You don't need to die over this." They laughed even harder. None of the previous tension was present, and she glanced at the woman behind the register, who hardly batted an eye. Bless her. "Erm, you know I'm serious, right? I didn't say anything that..."

They stopped laughing, a grin spread all across their face. Delilah stood there, tapping her foot against the dirty underneath her feet, and realized she could've just taken the drink at any point during this interaction. She didn't really need to stand here and wait, especially since she had hours of homework waiting for her at home and she didn't even know Harrison. She didn't owe Harrison anything.

Yet, somehow here she was. Waiting for an explanation.

"Are you done yet? Come on. We still need to fight to see who'll buy the drink. We can do it Colosseum-style if you want."

Harrison rolled their eyes and grabbed the bottle from the freezer. Her jaw dropped, and about to shout obscenities at them for being a dirty, rotten cheater, she stopped when they held it by the cap, bottle body out to her.

"You can have it."

This was a trick. Delilah had seen enough situational comedies to know what happened. The siblings always tricked each other. This had to be a trick.

Nothing happened when her hand closed around the bottle, cold underneath her palm. They let go, and the bottle felt heavier. "This isn't a trick?" she asked, and they shook their head. "Okay. Thanks, I guess."

"No problem."

She stood there awkwardly, staring at the bottle in her hands. She should say something, shouldn't she? "Look, dude, I'm sorry if I shouldn't have called you Harrison. It's just that Hannah always calls you that, so I must've just learned it from her, and if you really don't like it, I'll stop."

They shrugged. "It's fine, Delilah."

They knew her name. They had known each other for years, but they had never been in the same class, never had the same social circles (excluding Hannah), never even talked with the exception of nods of acknowledgements in the hallways. How did they know her name?

They reached past her and grabbed a Bīnghóngchá. They held it up to show her, and then smiled, like the sun coming out on a rainy day. Then they paid for it in exact change at the register and left, not looking back. Delilah stared at their retreating figure, then remembered the bottle of sakura peach black tea in her hand, and went to pay for it.

Delilah.

She thought of the way her name rolled off their tongue.

She wondered if she would ever see them again.

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endnotes ‣ surprise! this actually takes place in the same universe as convenience store AU. for timeline's sake, this fic takes place a little after part 3, March, of convenience store AU, which took place on White Day. you may also remember Delilah from sports team AU, where Quinton had thought Delilah and Harrison were dating. Harrison and Delilah are actually recycled characters and were originally the main characters in a standalone novel, which means Delilah x Harrison used to be canon! are they still canon? maybe. but before Harrison and Quinton were in the same novel and became my OTP, Delilah and Harrison were my OTP. (I kid you not, I used to talk about Delilah and Harrison the same way I talk about Harrison and Quinton now. it's weird to think about.)