Early the following morning, Chongyun met Xingqiu out on his front doorstep again. Truth be told, he couldn't sleep well the night before, but this time it was because he was thinking about the trip ahead.
The trip had been planned out as such: today, they'd make it a good portion of the way to Mondstadt, then the following night they'd make it there. On the third and fourth days, Xingqiu would go up to see Albedo, and the fifth and final day would be spent exploring Mondstadt with their down time.
Chongyun had decided to go with Xingqiu on his first trip up to see Albedo so as to ask him about the whereabouts of evil spirits, and then on the second and last trip up, he'd stay back to find a suitable gift for Xingqiu and ask him out at some point that same day.
"Easy." He told himself. "It'll all go according to plan."
The cryo boy was brought down from his cloud of thoughts by Xingqiu opening his front door and greeting him good morning, which he greeted back.
"Ready to go?" Xingqiu asked, yawning.
"Yes. Are you? You don't look like you got ample rest last night, Xingqiu."
"And here it is." Xingqiu thought. "Chongyun's obliviousness."
Despite the other now being aware of Xingqiu's feelings for him, many things still seemed to fly over his head, simply because of his personality and not his ignorance.
In truth, Xingqiu had also had some trouble sleeping, though more so than the other boy. All night he had had continuous thoughts of how this trip would go, especially since it was just the two of them traveling together.
"A-ah, well, I was simply far too excited about traveling with you, my liege, to get a sufficient supply of sleep. My apologies, I'll be sure to get the proper amount tonight." Xingqiu replied.
Leaving the doorstep with his bag in tow and grabbing Chongyun's wrist with the other in a way to usher him off, he led the two out of Liyue Harbor and on their way to Mondstadt.
They weren't far out from the city's entrance when Chongyun realized Xingqiu's grip had quickly left his wrist and slipping down to his hand, slowly intertwining his fingers while Chongyun's lay limp.
Xingqiu seemed to notice this, and pulled his hand away abruptly with a short apology, leaving his hand to be back at his side.
Chongyun looked down to the other's hand, and battled with himself about what to do.
"What would Xiangling and the Traveler say? What would they encourage me to do?"
He thought that the renounced chef and famous adventurer would implore him to pursue it, and so in one swift, soft movement, Xingqiu barely even had time to comprehend his gloved hand brushing the fabric of his sleeve and intertwining his fingers with his own.
Xingqiu turned slightly to see it out of the corner of his eye, to believe it, just to see that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
The Chongyun, the oblivious boy that he likes, is holding his hand. Even though Xingqiu often initiated hand holding only for Chongyun to eventually pull away and push it off as one of Xingqiu's teasings, never had he actually made the effort to hold his hand back.
Xingqiu was flipping out inside his mind, having zero idea what kind of response was due.
So he just did the first thing that came to mind.
"Hehe, my my Chongyun, I didn't realize you felt that way about me! You should hold my hand more often, hmm?"
Too his great surprise, Chongyun didn't pull his hand away in flustered mock-anger as per usual, but rather held his hand tighter.
"Well, you're always making an effort to hold my hand whenever we go out on commissions, so I thought I'd, well, hold your hand too for once. Y'know, cause this is a bigger trip and all..."
Chongyun's reply came with an honest face that was too cute for Xingqiu's eyes to handle, and so he pulled his eyes away from Chongyun and instead to the path ahead of him, the one they'd follow to Mondstadt.
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Later that evening, they set up camp to rest and have a place to mark where they'd sleep.
After a dinner consisting mainly of what they had on hand in their bags and what they could find, they set up their make-shift tents and changed to more comfortable attire before laying down in their respective spaces.
But while the night drawled on, so too did time seem to for Xingqiu. He couldn't focus on rest, as he felt odd sleeping so far away from his friend when they usually ended up tangled up together by morning during sleepovers.
With the moonlight glinting off his amber eyes and the rest of his features, he crept under the sky's watchful gaze as he moved to lay next to the other.
Not so close as to be intrusive, and not so far that he still felt lonely. Just how he felt was right.
Beside him, Chongyun rose slightly and turned to squint at Xingqiu in dark, his cool blue hair a fluffy mess of bed head.
"Xingqiu? Is that you? Are there monsters or spirits about?" He asked, his voice oscillating between fatigue and excitement at the mention of spirits.
"I'm afraid not, dear Chongyun. I can't seem to find sleep, so I came over to rest by you. I hope I'm not causing you that great of a disturbance." Xingqiu said quietly as his eyes began to close.
"Y-you're fine. We both need rest before finishing our journey tomorrow anyways. Good night Xingqiu."
"Good night my liege."
Xingqiu, now safely accompanied by the other's presence, drifted off to sleep, his light breathing the only sound Chongyun decided to focus on.
He laid back down and made himself comfortable under his covers, ready to fall asleep once more. Peeking one eye open to see the sleepy boy in front of him one final time, he closed his eyes and took one free, gloved hand and placed it in Xingqiu's open palm.
"Good night Xingqiu."
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I made sure to make this chapter longer to make up for the short one last time, so 👌
They're almost to Mondstadt, and I wonder what adventures will await them ahead? I guess you'll just have to wait and see...
Btw, I will be having a Mondstadt character (other than Albedo) make an appearance, so if there's someone is specific you'd like me to include in the story before I write these next few parts, leave a comment letting me know who (and possibly how if u want).
Alright, I think that's all for now my friends. I hope you're enjoying the story so far! If you are, don't hesitate to let me know, encouragement is awesome :0
Take care of yourselves!
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💧Melt ❄️ (Xingyun)
Fanfiction"A short fanfic in which Chongyun starts to realize his feelings for his best friend, ones he's been way too oblivious to; and much to Xiangling's frustration." Xingyun has quickly become my favorite ship in genshin impact, so here we are! My sincer...
