Aether POV:
I woke up to Paimon poking my shoulder.
-"Paimon thinks he's dead"
I sat up and stretched
"I'm not dead Paimon"
-"oh.. you heard that uh Paimon was only joking"
I got out of bed and got dressed, then went downstairs.
"Good morning, where's Xiao?"
"You called?"
I turned around, a little frightened, to see the dark haired man pull off his mask and look back at me.
"I- was just wondering where you were..uh are you packed?"
"Yes"
"Oh yes, you three are leaving today, I had almost forgotten"
"Yea, thank you very much for the place to stay, Morax"
"My pleasure"
We grabbed our bags an hour later and went to meet Beidou on her ship
"Hey kid, ready to head to Inazuma?"
"Yes, oh hello Kazuha"
"Greetings, welcome aboard"
When the boat began to sail I decided to have a conversation with Kazuha. We talked for a really long time now that I think about it.
Xiao POV:
I watched from a corner of the ship as Paimon stuffed her face with food and Aether talked happily to Kazuha. While I watched him I felt a strange feeling of anger, though it wasn't like me to be angry at Aether, it also didn't feel like anger either. Could I be jealous? Of Kazuha? Maybe.. no there's no way, jealousy is foolish. I looked back over at Kazuha and Aether to see them laughing. Fuck, it wasn't fair..I wish I was Kazuha it's not fucking fair. I felt tears of jealousy and frustration fill my eyes. I looked down, in case they fell out. Thankfully they didn't but it took a while for them to go away, by the time they did we had reached Inazuma.
"Xiao, Look! Inazuma is so pretty! Oh, and Kazuha said he even filled out forms for us to stay here for a while until we find out where to go next!"
"Wow.. Kazuha's so cool huh"
I didn't realize the disappointment in my voice but Aether did he looked at me with concerned eyes.
"Is everything okay?"
"Y-yeah sorry"
"Hm? For what?"
"Nothing nevermind"
Kazuha and Beidou went somewhere to drop off the packages they brought while Paimon, Aether, and I began to look around Inazuma. It was decently pretty but I wasn't much in the mood to enjoy it right now.
Aether POV:
I feel bad, did I upset Xiao? He's acting strange.. he's looking down as he walks and he won't look me in the eyes. Does he not love me anymore..? Did he ever?
As we walked in silence, I thought a lot. He sounded most upset when I brought up Kazuha.. maybe he's jealous I spent time with Kazu instead of him..
"Xiao.. I-Im sorry"
He looked at me with confusion
"I should've spent more time with you, I still love you, and I shouldn't have left you out like that.. I'm really sorry"
I stared down in guilt, no longer wishing to hold eye contact with him. I heard Paimon rush off to a food stand leaving both of us alone. Xiao got closer to me and hugged me from behind.
"It's okay.. I'm sorry for getting jealous"
"It's alright..I love you Xiao"
"I- I love you too"
He dug his face into my shoulder in embarrassment and I let out a small laugh. He let go when Paimon came back, I looked up to see she was munching on some sort of sweets.
"You're gonna get a stomach ache with all that food Paimon"
-"Hmph!"
I didn't even notice Xiao had left while I was lecturing Paimon, but when he came back he told me he found an inn we could stay at. The three of us went to the inn and settled down, Paimon getting a bed and Xiao and I sharing one. It was only 6pm but the journey here took a while and we were all tired so we drifted off to sleep.. not to brag but I fell asleep cuddled up to Xiao.
(Sorry for taking so long to write this chapter, but good news, my bf still loves me so yippie 😋)