Camp Crush! (Modern!Xingqiu/Vampire!Chongyun) [COMPLETED]

Act 8: Caught

"So i get to meet your mysterious forest boyfriend tonight?"
Xinyan was looking forward to it.

The way Xingqiu hid his blushing face made it obvious she was on to something.
"He's not my boyfriend! We're just friends..."

"Friends who sneak out in the night together, hold hands for hours, and have eyes you can't stop looking into? Sounds very platonic."
The rocker couldn't help tease him.

As much as he struggled to admit it, Xingqiu wished she was right. Chongyun must have so many things on his mind. An orphaned vampire without a home, why would he even consider love amongst all these more pressing matters?

"Still though, a vampire? And he proved it to you enough that you believe him?"

"Yes. He made it really hard to deny it."
The whole hypnosis thing was rather unnerving in hindsight, but Chongyun could have hurt him in much easier ways if he wanted to. It was to prove a point and he knew he wouldn't do it again.

"I'm amazed at how well i predicted you being a romance novel protagonist. You can win awards for your autobiography at this point. This talent camp really gave you your money's worth."
Xinyan put her guitar away carefully, disappointed she couldn't bring it to show Chongyun. Too much noise.
"Don't miss me too much, okay? I'll be back before you know it."

Xingqiu rolled his eyes.
"Are you talking to your guitar?

Xinyan cradled the instrument.
"This is my baby, a bookworm like you wouldn't understand."

"Fine, fine. Do what you must."
The aspiring author wasn't going to argue. His friend was very passionate about her music and he knew it. He went over the plan again.
"So i'll sneak out first, see if he's okay. I'll text you when you can join. Your phone's on silent, right?"

A sad sigh.
"For the first time in the history of ever, yes. You're really forcing me to commit all the music crimes today, aren't you?"

"Do you wanna meet Chongyun or not?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the life of me!"
Xinyan's voice always went up in volume when she got excited. She quickly put her hand in front of her mouth, pretended to zip it shut, and repeated the sentence in a whisper.

This was going to go horribly. They would be caught for sure. Xingqiu sighed.
"Don't make me regret this."

Xingqiu snuck off as soon as they knew everyone else was asleep. Xinyan kept her phone close. She was anxious about meeting Chongyun, he must be quite a big deal to live alone out here.

Xingqiu felt the cold nighttime air against his face. he'd grown to like it. Chongyun's hands felt the same.

The thought caught him off guard, and so did the butterflies in his stomach as he approached their usual meeting spot. It was starting to get difficult to pretend he was only interested in the boy for the mystery.
"Gods dammit."

Once behind the vacant boys dorm, he sat down and waited.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Where is he?

Desperate, Xingqiu took a risk. in a whispered shout he tried to find his friend.
"Chongyun? Chongyun?"

"Not quite."
The voice came from Albedo, who was leaning through the boys dorm window.

Xingqiu jumped in surprise.
"H-heeeey, what a coincedence that you're here too!"

Albedo shook his head.
"You know you're in trouble. Don't make it worse."

The camp leader break room was dead quiet. Albedo sat on the sofa, Childe leaned against the desk, and Zhongli sat at it.
"I hope you have a good explanation for sneaking out in the middle of the night and endangering yourself."

Xingqiu felt frozen. What would he even say?? That he was curious about the boys dorm being unusable so he snuck out to investigate and met a vampire boy who he maybe has feelings for now and hangs out with every night? that wouldn't go over well.
"I was curious about the boys dorm..."

Albedo sighed.
"And what does this 'Chongyun' have to do with it?"

So he heard that... Time to play dumb
"Who?"

Zhongli leaned forward in disappointment.
"Young Xingqiu. The more you lie the more we are obligated to assume the worst. You understand that being honest is the best course of action, yes?"

He nodded.

"So, why were you out at night?"

Being honest. Here goes nothing.
"The person staying in the boys dorm doesn't have a home and has been living in the woods since we arrived so i've been trying to earn his trust so we can get him help."

...Did that work?

"So you say. And this Chongyun, why meet him at night? You have free time here. You'd be able to sneak off briefly during the day too."
Zhongli was wise in the really annoying way.

"He can't visit in the day."
Wait no, he shouldn't have said that.

"Why not?"

Exactly. Now he had to find a believable explanation that didn't include the word 'vampire'.
"He... um... is allergic to the sun...?"

A deep sigh from Zhongli.
"I see. For some reason you don't want to tell us what's going on. We'll contact your parents tomorrow after work hours, for now you can go back to bed."

Childe cut in.
"And i'll be standing guard in case you try to go on any more nightly adventures."

"But i'm telling the truth!"

"Sure you are, and i'm a sneznayan assassin!"
Childe wasn't having any of it. As careless as he seemed, he knew it was in part his responsibility if a kid went missing.
"So we're calling your parents tomorrow and that's the end of it."

The trip back to the dorms was depressing. Xingqiu slouched in defeat, letting himself drop into his bed. Childe stayed to make sure everyone was asleep. Eventually he left to go stand guard outside, and Xingqiu pulled up his phone.

He texted Xinyan.
"They found out. I'm in trouble."

She answered quickly, she was pretty good at pretending to be asleep.
"Thought so. What about Chongyun?"

"He didn't show, must've realized they were waiting for me."
Xingqiu felt sad at the thought. He had hoped Chongyun would've shown anyway. It would have made this a lot easier to explain.

Far away in a dark spot in the forest, Chongyun felt the same. He'd stayed a while hoping he'd get a chance to see Xingqiu, but the ginger man was keeping a watchful eye. Once he realized there was no point, he returned to his nest. It was so lonely here... He missed Xingqiu. What had this boy done to him? He'd gotten good at being on his own yet now he felt lonelier than ever despite having only seen him yesterday. He just wanted to talk to him, hold his hand again...

He could always take some risks.