yellow hyacinth || xingyun

3

"Xingqiu, can you go to father's study? He asked for you," a man with similar dark blue hair and golden eyes asked Xingqiu as he opened Xingqiu's bedroom door.

Xingqiu nodded, and proceeded to go to his father's office, ready for whatever lecture he was about to witness, whether it was about his extremely, excruciating, nearly full mark score in the recent test or about how his etiquette wasn't quite right. However, he was certainly not expecting the dreaded news that was to be delivered to him.

"Father, It's Xingqiu," He knocked the door lightly before opening it to see his father, behind what seemed to be a mountain of paperwork, not unlike the one he usually did for the council.

"Ah, Xingqiu, I just wanted to ask you about your future. Do you want to do anything in particular?" He questioned, not even looking up from the current paper he was reading.

"No," Xingqiu denied.

"Well, that's good. I hope you can then take my business with your brother as Co-CEOs. That's all I wanted to tell you, you can go and do your duties." He said, finally looking up, smiling at his son.

Xingqiu smiled back, as best as he could in this situation. As soon as he closed the door, he sprinted, even though being not a fan of exerting energy. He slammed the door shut, as quietly as he could, to not startle his family, causing even more lectures, before gesturing uncivily with his middle finger to the door whilst mouthing, "Fuck you," about a hundred times.

He was so angry. No he was goddamn pissed.

"Deciding my future for me? Especially after dictating my entire childhood?" Xingqiu whispered. Or more like whisper-shouted? Whatever, either way, Xingqiu was enraged.

Knock.

XIngqiu looked for the source of the sound. It couldn't be the maids, after all, for some reason, his brother forbade them from entering, so he looked at the window, the only other entrance where one could knock. He turned around and surprise, surprise, it was Chongyun.

Actually it was quite a surprise as Xingqiu's room was on the third floor. Xingqiu hurriedly opened the window to let Chongyun in.

"How did you get in here?" Xingqiu exclaimed, whilst whispering.

"I climbed up,"

This time it was Xingqiu's turn to be dumbfounded. He just sighed, sometimes Chongyun's athletic ability scared him.

"I was getting worried because you didn't pick up my call, but you seemed fine, cursing at the door," Chongyun chuckled. Xingqiu's face flushed red. At times like these when Chongyun was not on the receiving end of the teasing, he didn't know what to do.

"Please, erase that from your memory," Xingqiu said weakly, before continuing, "Anyways, I'm not actually allowed out but can I sneak out with you?"

Chongyun rolled his eyes, used to his antics, but smiled, taking Xingqiu's hand for the second time that day, jumping out of the window first. Xingqiu followed, placing his bare feet on the roof. Chongyun opened his mouth to ask, but the other boy just interrupted him.

"I'll steal your shoes on the way home," Xingqiu said before gently pushing Chongyun to the nearest tree. As soon as Chongyun jumped off and landed on the ground, Xingqiu followed. Xingqiu jumped off the tree and landed, not so gracefully on the ground. It was more like him failing to land on his feet, causing Chongyun to dive under him.

"That.. didn't.. hurt?" Xingqiu questioned, before realising he was on top of Chongyun. He scooted away, apologising. He was about to stand up, until he was pushed down again by Chongyun. Xingqiu froze. Chongyun was currently hovering on top of him, with his hand on Xingqiu's mouth. Xingqiu stared at the soft, pale blue locks, wanting to touch them. The pretty eyelashes, that he couldn't see properly due to the dim light, was the same colour as the eyes which Xingqiu loved to stare into. His eyes then wandered to luscious pink lips. No, he couldn't do this. He then stared into the sky. The starless sky, due to all the light pollution, but that was irrelevant. Anything was better than staring, and appreciating the beauty of his bestfriend.

"I'm glad your brother didn't see," He said. Xingqiu didn't reply. He was still staring up in the sky, zoned out. "Xingqiu?"

"Hm? Oh, ah yes, thank you. Let us go now dearest Chongyun," Xingqiu stated, very composed. Very composed, other than the fact that he was extremely flushed in the face.

He ran forward, leaving Chongyun behind, hoping to calm down before they reached the park.

...

They both sat down on the one lonely bench in the park.

"So why did you bring me here?" Chongyun and Xingqiu questioned at the same time.

"You brought me here!" Chongyun exclaimed. Xingqiu realised his mistake and they both burst out into laughter.

"Well, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to come watch me at the swimming competition on Saturday. If you're there with the others I'm sure I'll go to nationals," Chongyun asked.

"In three days? Of course, I'll come. I'll have to arrange things with the council and my family company though." Xingqiu smiled. He was excited about this, another chance to escape.

However, Chongyun didn't share the same enthusiasm. How could Xingqiu always put his family business and council work before him? Wasn't he more important than a stack of papers? Xingqiu instantly noticed the strange air and broke the silence.

"What? Aren't you happy?" He laughed.

However Chongyun didn't reply. Chongyun didn't know how to feel. He felt like Xingqiu didn't like him the most anymore. He felt like he couldn't do anything about it. A pain, not external, stabbed at his heart. It seeped through him, just like a poison. He...he felt jealous. Jealous that he was not number one anymore.

"Chongyun?"

Chongyun shook himself awake and nodded, replying to Xingqiu's earlier question.

"Anyways, it is already 11pm, shouldn't you go home?" Chongyun asked, changing the topic.

'Ah, yes, I'll be going. What about you?"

'I'll be staying here for a bit longer. There are some perks of living alone." Chongyun continued as he handed his shoes to Xingqiu.

"Well, Goodnight dearest Chongyun," The dark blue haired boy said, after slipping the shoes on and walking into the darkness of the night.

...

notes: sorry for taking so long T_T i have my yearlies coming up and have been studying jkafkhfkdf.

Republished on the 02/03/2022