Xiao
My wish was granted when I said that the movie marathon would be our last activity because Venti's mood suddenly drained and he also had to clean my hoodie since the wet tissues didn't work.
It was satisfying to hear that the slumber party came to an end because it means that I can finally ask Aether about how he feels about me. But I think he has to wash off the egg yolk sticking to his hair first.
The villa is big, so it's impossible that it won't have guest rooms. Chongyun was the one who picked our rooms, and as a shitty bastard, he assigned me to a room next to Aether.
I went inside and sighed in relief. Alone at last. I decided to freshen myself up before I went to bed.
I want to sleep, but I can't because my eyes won't shut down. Aether is probably busy cleaning himself off, so I can't ask him now. I don't want to waste time, but I don't know what will keep me busy.
I groaned and rested my arm on my forehead. My brain suddenly recalled the moment when he first confessed to me.
• Flashback •
School is a place where children learn. But as for me, it is hell. I despise being close to people. I hate it when they talk to me or touch me, but I have no choice.
Sir Zhongli said that education is important because it will help me gain knowledge that will help me in the future. I don't want to go, but it's my privilege to follow his orders.
Sir Tartaglia voluntarily drove me to school. He was really a talkative person, but my responses were simply yes or no. It made me overthink if he thinks that I'm rude, but I just don't know how to keep the conversation going. It's hard, and it's making me uncomfortable.
"Sweetie, we're here!" He said. I'm still not used to him calling me Sweetie or Xiao because my real name is Alatus.
He exited first and helped me open the car's door. He suddenly offered his hand to me and asked, "Are you scared? Do you want to hold my hand?"
I don't know what to say, but to be honest, I am. Seeing other people makes me nervous. I slowly nodded my head and gently held my hand.
He smiled when my grip tightened. "Don't be nervous. You'll be fine."
Sir Tartaglia escorted me, and it surprised me when a pair of yellow eyes greeted me the moment I stepped into my classroom. It was that kid.
His shiny blonde hair, his yellow eyes, and his wide grin made me feel disgust. Why is he here? I don't want to get involved with him. Are we classmates? No, it can't be.
"Xiao!" He shouted and waved his hand to me. His loud voice created attention, and now students are looking at me. Great, the day keeps getting worse, and it's all because of him.
"Xiao, look! It's Aether. Don't you want to say hi to him, sweetie?" I'd rather run.
"No."
"Hello, Uncle Childe! What brings you here? Wait, don't tell me Xiao's going to school here!" He said excitedly.
Sir Tartaglia nodded his head and smiled. "Yes! He's going to study here, and it delighted me to see that you two are classmates."
No, this is actually terrible. Can someone end my life? I want to die.
That kid's grin grew wider and he answered, "OMG! We're going to have loads of fun, my best friend."
What the hell? You're not even my friend to begin with. We only met and played a few games, and you are now calling me your best friend? This kid annoys me. I really hate people like him because I know that he only wants to get close to me so that he can use me.
My eyes widened when that kid suddenly embraced me in a hug. It makes me want to puke. "Aww! Will you take good care of him, Aether?"
"No problem, Uncle!" He answered and smiled.
Sir Tartaglia waved goodbye and left, so I'm on my own. Except that I'm stuck with this kid. He grabbed my hand and made me sit in a chair next to him.
He suddenly cupped my cheek and forced me to smile. "A piece of advice: if you want others to like you, you need to start with a smile."
I twitched my eyebrows. Who does he think he is to touch me like this? I removed his hand and glared at him. "Don't touch me."
He pouted and said, "Jeez, you're as grumpy as ever."
"Hey, Aether!" A guy with rusty goggles on top of his head approached him. I tried not to make eye contact with him, but it was too late when he noticed me.
"Ooh, who's your new friend? Hi! My name is Bennett; you can call me Benny for short." He introduced himself and offered me a handshake. I ignored him. I didn't come here to make friends anyway.
"Forgive him! He's really shy when it comes to making friends." I am not! I don't even need friends.
"His name is Xiao, and he just transferred here today."
"Pfft. Xiao? Is it because you're small?" The four-eyed freak chuckled.
I pulled his collar because it pissed me off when he laughed at me. "What did you just say?"
How dare he make fun of my name? It was given to me by Sir Zhongli. And did he just insult my height?
The four-eyed freak was about to cry. I was about to punch him when this kid stopped me. "Put him down now", he ordered. But what pisses me off even more is that I listened to his order.
"Benny! Are you alright?" He asked.
The four-eyed freak quivered in fear and slowly nodded his head. "Your friend is scary."
"Xiao, you have to apologize to him," he said, looking at me with a serious face.
I scoffed. "No."
"Xiao. Apologize." He repeated it and furiously glared at me. I don't know what came over me, but I followed his order again. What is wrong with me? It was the first time I saw him angry too.
"Sorry," I said. I sat down on my chair and noticed that everyone had their eyes on me.
Bloody hell. Way to make an expression, Xiao.
The homeroom teacher entered the classroom and delightedly greeted us. He ordered me to introduce myself, but I stayed still in my seat. I don't like to talk, especially about myself. I don't want an introduction. In the end, he was the one who introduced me to the class and had his discussion.
I can still hear whispers from people, which made me ball my hand into a fist. This is why I hate going to school. I don't belong here. I just want to go home.
A crumpled paper was suddenly thrown at me. I knew it was from that kid because it came from my side. He signalled me to read it, but I simply ignored it.
He threw another paper, and I ignored him again until it annoyed me when he kept throwing, so it left me no choice but to read it.
Aether
Are you okay?
P.S. don't ignore me (T⌓T)
I grabbed my pen and scribbled my answer.
Xiao
Yes.
I passed him the paper, and he read it. He wrote something on the paper, and it was thrown back at me.
Aether
I'm sorry if I got angry at you. It was not my intention because you hurt my friend. You should also know how to control your temper (⋟﹏⋞)
Is this an apology or trying to teach me a lesson?
Xiao
Apology will be accepted if you leave me alone.
Hopefully, he would stop pestering me, and he did. He didn't send me back the paper. Peace at last.
Time flies fast, and everyone left except for me. I have to write a reflection paper on what I did earlier. It turned out that one of my classmates had reported me to the teacher.
Look at that. My first day of school was already a disaster. I can't even think of a word to write on my reflection paper.
"Knock. Knock." It caught my attention when someone spoke, and it pissed me off to see his face again.
"Leave me alone," I said. But did he listen? No. What did I expect?
He chuckled and sat in front of me. "No way. I don't want to leave my best friend behind."
"I am neither your best friend nor your friend. What do you want?"
He rested his head on his arms and smirked. "I want you to be my friend."
I sighed in defeat. Is this person deaf? Didn't he hear what I said? "I don't want to."
"Aww. Why not?" He asked, pouting.
"Because I hate you. Read between the lines."
"And I like you." What he said made me look at him. He likes me? What's that supposed to mean? It's weird that my heart skipped a beat just now.
"What?"
He gently flicked my forehead and grinned at me. "I. Like. You."
I heard about that word. It's an emotion, but I don't exactly know what it means because I haven't experienced it.
"What does that mean?"
He blinks twice and gets flustered. "You don't know?" I shook my head in reply.
His face turned red even more, and he played with his fingers. "I-It means that someone is comfortable with you, like he accepts you for who you are. F-friends often say that to each other."
His words made me feel better. My hatred, guilt, and pain. A part of them immediately vanished into thin air. I was able to breathe without suffocating.
I met his eyes, and they gleamfully shone when the sunset rays hit them. It was as bright as the sun. His eyes widened, and his grin was wider. "You finally smiled!"
I didn't realize that my lips had formed a smile. I immediately looked away and hid my face from him.
That was so embarrassing! Has my mind gone nuts? I was totally carried away by the moment.
"Aww! Why did you hide your face? I want to see it," he said, trying to remove my hands from my face.
"S-stop that!" I yelled.
He listened and clicked his tongue. "Fine! I'll let you off this time. But you look more handsome when you smile. You should do that more often."
I sighed. "Aether."
He jumped from his seat and happily squealed. "You said my name for the first time!"
That was odd because my mouth blurted his name unexpectedly. Not to mention, his scream was so loud that it hurt my ears. But for some reason, it didn't bother me that much.
• End of flashback •
I recognized him as my best friend after that. Aether basically changed my life. I used to treat everyone as my enemy and had trust issues, even my two fathers. But he made me realize that not everyone is bad.
Wait. Does that mean that he liked me way back then? No. It can't be.
I stood up and went to his room. I really want to ask him because my curiosity is about to kill me. I knocked on the door, and my knees almost gave in when the door opened.
I was confident for a second, but it immediately disappeared when I saw Aether. "Xiao?"
My eyes scanned him from head to toe, and it made me blush when he was only wearing a robe.
Don't look, and focus! I inhaled a deep breath and asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
He leaned his body to the side and answered, "What's the matter?"
"I want to talk to you about something important."
He nodded his head and said, "Okay. Let's talk inside."
Inside? It will make me more anxious if we talk inside. God, how did the room already smell like him when he'd only been here for a couple of minutes? I gulped and sat down on the bed.
"What do you want to talk about?" He asked, sitting down on a chair with his arms crossed.
"I have something to ask you."
"Whoa! What's with the tension? You're making me nervous." I should be the one saying that and not you.
"Anyways, what do you want to ask?"
My heart couldn't calm down, my palms started to sweat, and my lips became dry. Why is this so hard?
I bit my lip. C'mon! You've got this. "Do you like me?"
He blinked twice and let out a small chuckle. "What?"
I avoided his eyes and fiddled with my fingers. "What you said on the balcony made me think. You said that you had a crush on someone who stole something so precious to you, but he forgot it. Is that person me?"
"I remembered what happened in the infirmary. I kissed you, didn't I? I'm sorry. It was an accident." I continued.
He sighed and replied, "Idiot. I already knew it was an accident. But you know what? A part of me hoped that it wasn't. And now, here you are: apologizing for kissing me."
He's mad because of my apology? "What do you mean?"
"Man, you really are slow when it comes to this. It made me realize that you only see me as your best friend." His voice sounds like he's in pain.
"Why do you always say that it's a bad thing? Do you regret our friendship? I'm confused about what you truly feel because I don't know how to read people's emotions. You said that you liked me before. Do you mean it as a best friend or not?"
"No. It's not that I regret it, but it's obvious that I don't like you as a best friend because I like you as a lover." His words made my heart race and pump loudly. My stomach did a flip, my mind forgot to think, and my body felt feverish. It even made me speechless and made me feel like time had stopped.
Lover. Just like what my two fathers are doing? Kissing, hugging, and sex: Do I see myself doing this stuff to him casually? I don't know. I'm not sure. I don't know how I feel about Aether.
Aether caught my attention when he slowly moved closer to me. I want to move, but my body won't budge. "Now it's my turn to ask."
I gulped. What kind of question is he going to ask? Does he have to be this close? My head began to feel dizzy from this tension, and my breathing became uneasy.
"Do I ever make you feel..." I tightened my grip on the bed sheets when his face leaned closer to my left ear. I can feel his warm breath brushing against it.
"Aroused?"
I tried to push him away, but my strength is slowly disappearing. "What are you doing?"
He met my eyes and smirked. He gently removed my hand from his chest and leaned it closer to his face.
"Xiao." He called my name, but why did that tingle my ears? Have I gone crazy?
Aether startled me when he licked my hand. His tongue was hot and slippery. I let out a small growl, and this sensation is similar to what I feel when I dream about Aether.
He started biting them, and it pissed me off when I started to like it. Fuck!
I noticed that his other hand trailed down to my body, touching my chest down to my abdomen. My throat suddenly became dry. I'm thirsty. But it's not water that I want.
"Answer me." Does he make me feel aroused? I don't know. But he's making me lose my mind.
I want to get out of here.
My senses came back, and he was surprised when I suddenly pushed him away. "I have to go," I said, and I immediately went back to my room.
What was that? My body still feels hot, and my throat is parched. What's worse is that it's up.
My dick got hard. Motherfucker!
•••••
Author's Note:
Aether: I don't like you as a best friend.
Us:
Aether: Because I like you as a lover.
Us: