Xie Lian shuts the door behind him as he arrives home. Ruoye runs to him and sits at his legs as he reaches down to scoop her up. Her pink nose twitches as she sniffs him, smelling the scent of the outside world on him. He puts her down into her crate and gives her lettuce.
He goes to the fridge and takes out leftovers from the morning. He looks into the pot and sees noodles floating in a murky liquid, burnt vegetables stuck to the bottom. He reheats some in the microwave and eats it piping hot. He's never been good at cooking but he always tries to cook for himself, he doesn't mind if it tastes bad anyways, he isn't picky.
He logs onto his laptop and does any work he missed when he was napping in class. After he's done he gets onto a job website and searches for any nearby part-time jobs. There's a job opening at the nearby moving service and Xie Lian feels like it suits him perfectly. He emails them and sends in his CV. He checks the time and it is 11pm, he gets up and washes him hands and face and puts on some pyjamas. He gets into bed and lays there with his eyes wide open, afraid of falling asleep.
Eventually, his tiredness catches up to him and he falls asleep, diving through an abyss of darkness, seeing flashes of memories he doesn't recognise. The flashes stop and he's left on a bridge that he somehow knows the name of, he's on the Ni Yian bridge. There's a ghost on the other side of the bridge, slashing through trees and attacking travelers. Xie Lian, not in control of his own body approaches the ghost and begins to fight it. The fight lasts the whole day and ends well into the night, Xie Lian wins with a final slash of his sword as the ghost dies peacefully. Xie Lian buries his body and leaves a flower on top of the mound of dirt, "body in abyss, heart in paradise" he whispers as he walks back across the bridge, leaving a looming shadow behind him.
When Xie Lian wakes up in the morning he isn't covered in cold sweat, it isn't 5 in the morning but he feels exhausted and starved. He gets up, not used to feeling like this in the morning. He gets up and does his normal morning routine, he brushes his teeth, has a shower and has breakfast. He feels ravenous and opts for a larger breakfast, he burns some eggs, toasts some bread and adds a tin of microwaved beans on top. He brings more food with him in case his hunger persists through the day.
He gets to school and sees his younger cousin Qi Rong causing a ruckus. She's always been like this since she was younger, never taking no for an answer and getting angry, even aggressive when she's angry. As soon as she sees Xie Lian she stops and runs up to him, pulling him into an unwanted hug. She's always idolised her older cousin even though no one really knows why, even when she wouldn't listen to anyone else she would always listen to him. She backed away and glared and the people she was previously fighting, causing them to scramble off. Xie Lian attempts to blend in and walk off with them but an arm grabs him and drags him back. "Cousin! I haven't seen you in a while! Where have you been?" She exclaims in her annoying voice. He looks away and scratches at his arm in shame. "I was taking a year off, I needed a break" he replies softly, hoping no one else would hear. She sighs in understanding and backs off "I'll leave you to it, have a good day, see you" she yells over her shoulder as she stumbles through the crowd to get to her class.
Xie Lian, a little shaken by the encounter goes back to his class to see his best friend and their boyfriend, whispering to each other things he really doesn't want to hear. They don't even seem to notice him, distracted by their sweet talk. They turn and look at him when he sits down near them, their reactions very different, Qingxuan full of smiles and He Xuan, glaring, clearly is upset his partner's attention has been diverted from him. Xie Lian waves at them, trying to get them to sit down before the teacher arrives, he intends to focus in class today and even though he loves his friend they are often very distracting.
The teacher soon enters and Xie Lian focuses on the lesson, listening to the lecture even though almost everyone falls asleep because of the boring lesson.
Author's note: Hope you enjoyed!!! Love you xx
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Bittersweet Nightmares (TGCF AU)
FanfictionSPOILERS Xie Lian keeps having strange dreams about a time in his life he can't remember.
