[ xiao's pov : before he visited venti at the hospital ]
"childe." xiao said, looking at the ginger- having a worried face.
"you fought with venti, correct?" he asked, xiao's eyes suddenly avoiding his gaze. he opened his mouth answer, but childe got to it first.
"so you did. he caught a fever once you left- from what i'm again not sure.." he cleared the throat, continuing.
"jean took him to the hospital." xiao flipped his head violently back to childe.
"what?" childe was surprised by the sudden movement and chuckled awkwardly.
"yes- he's sick.." xiao looked around the house for his high tops to put on. childe noticed he wasn't listening anymore, and placed his hand on xiao's head.
"calm down. i know theres a lot of thoughts through your head right now." xiao looked up to childe to see a small smile on the older males face.
"what?" xiao asked, mentally facepalming himself for seeming so stupid.
"answer this," childe said, patting xiao's head. "what do you feel for venti?" xiao looked at childe, confusion filling his eyes.
"feel? i don't feel anything i just-" childe sighed. "i was trying to make it easier. fine, are you in love with him?"xiao took a second to process the question before turning red.
"excuse me? why are you-" childe groaned, lifting his hand from xiao.
"you're such a piece of work. zhongli can drive you to the hospital. think about it alright?" xiao turned away, slipping his other shoe on.
"no, i'm walking." childe looked at xiao, crossing his arms.
"no you're not. it's too far and it'll take about an hour probably. so two in all. i'm not-" xiao stood up grabbing a thick jacket to keep him warm.
"see 'ya." he said, opening the door, not letting his dad finish. "hey- xiao!" xiao closed the door, leaving childe by himself.
"what the heck.." he muttered, watching xiao start running through the front window.
'why did he say that?' xiao thought, running through the snow, which had stopped a couple minutes ago. 'me? love venti? why..' his thoughts trailed else where.
'xiao-xiao! you mind if i call you that?'
'but xiao-xaio..you said you'd see a movie with me today! come on, please?"
venti's voice just kept repeating in his head. he started to think twice about the answer he gave childe. did he like him? "he's pretty, and cute, a little too outgoing, but i can manage. he's always the first person to invite me to things..jeez, what am i doing?"
his thoughts always drifted back to him. he slowed down his pace, more now to a fast walk. he used his hand to comb through his hair, trying to think of a logical solution to this problem he had.
"what if i did like him? what then? i'm not even sure he likes guys." he looked around, not seeing the hospital. he's been running for a five minutes. of course he'd not there.
"its 9:45," he thought, looking down at his phone. "i'll be there around 10:15 maybe? should i warn him? no- no if he knew he'd tell me not to come." he slipped his phone back in his pocket and continued walking. he thought maybe this was a bad idea-that maybe he should have dressed even warmer, but if he's going to run, why would he be cold?
"no i take everything back." he sweared at himself, rubbing his hands together. it was maybe 45 minutes into the walk. the only plus to this walk was that he could see the hospital. he stopped for a moment, seeing the cars fly by, even this late at night. he sighed, starting to walk again. he looked up at the sky, the sun had already set and it was decently dark. but, xiao had his ways- he's always been good in the dark.
suddenly his phone started ringing, catching him of guard. he pulled his phone out of his pocket, seeing it was zhongli. he debated wether to answer or not but he decided that if he didn't answer, it would be worse.
"hello?" he said, pulling the phone to his own ear.
"xiao, what are you doing? it's too dangerous outside this late." xiao continued walking his way, he assumed it was only 10 minutes until he was there.
"i'm almost there. you can come pick me up from the hospital, but i'm walking the rest." he said plainly, kicking snow out of his way as he went.he could hear zhongli sigh.
"fine. but i'll be there shortly, alright?" xiao hummed as a response, looking up back ahead of him.
"okay. bye father." he said before he hung up the phone. he held onto his phone this time- instead of putting it in his pocket. he had no reason to, but he thought maybe someone would call again. but all he though at this point, was how stupid he was. for more than one reason.
___
"but sir..you're not f-family.." the nurse said to xiao, who had previously asked for venti's room number.
"im his friend! i have to see him!"the nurse shook her head, xiao clenching his fists. he muttered out a quiet "please" before looking aside. the nurse held into her clipboard before looking around.
"312." she said, xiao looking up at her and nodding.
"thank you." he said running towards the stairs. the nurse sighed, walking back to her assigned front desk.
he ran up the stairs, looking for which one was floor 3- since he wasn't focused on counting how many flights of stairs he had gone up. he found the sign that said "floor 3" and he opened the door, look around for 312. he walked down the hallways, counting the doors in his head.
"310, 311, 312.." he stood in front of the door for a second, trying to catch his breath. he nodded to himself opening the door.
"ven,"
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i'm so tired and this is honestly a bad chapter i apologise ;-; i could do better but i have no motivation and i have schoolwork and it's just stressful lol
but it's fine, i'll get through it >:)
also you cant tell xiao would pick the stupid choice
he's a stupid and hormonal emo teen
anywyas i'll do a better chapter next time i'm just so tired .-.