What is this familiar feeling? [XIAOTHER]

Chapter 1: Strange Dream

"Aetherrrr, come on! Wake up!" Lumine tugged on Aether's arm in an attempt to wake him up. Aether groaned. He slowly turned to Lumine with is half opened eyes. "Finally, you're awake!" Aether sat up. "I had the strangest dream." Aether rubbed his head with his hand. "You can tell me about it later, you need to get ready for work! You're gonna be late." It was a 15 minute walk from where he lived. Lumine had to take a bus to her job. "Okay okay, I'm awake." "Good, I'll meet you downstairs." Lumine then ran off and closed his door behind her. "Hahhh." Aether sighed. He slowly got out of bed and put his work uniform on. He then headed downstairs to see Lumine waiting for him. They would usually walk together until the bus stop, then Aether would go the rest of the way alone. "Let's go!" Lumine smiled and grabbed Aether's hand. Pulling on Aether, they both ran out the door and were now on their way to the bus stop.
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"Bye, Aether!" Lumine waved as she got onto the bus. Aether smiled and waved back. The bus doors closed and then started to drive off. Aether sighed and began walking the rest of the way to his workshop. Once he arrived, he went to go put on his work uniform and opened the shop. Aether worked as a florist. He's always admired the different shapes and colors flowers can have. His mother was the one that ran the shop but sadly, she had passed away when they were very young. His father didn't care for them. Actually, they never even saw their father. So now, he runs the shop. No one really comes until 10:00am so he had some time to kill. Then, he remembered the dream he had. It was very strange. There was a man in his dream. "What was his name again?" Aether started to think out loud. Eventually, he gave up. Then the bell above the entrance door rang. Aether shot his head up. "Oh! Zhongli sensei!" Zhongli was a regular at the shop. "Good morning Aether, how have you been?" Aether smiled. "I've been fine, what about you?" Zhongli walked around for a moment looking at the different flowers. "I've been well." Zhongli grabbed a flower pot and went up to the counter. "How's Childe?" Aether looked at the flowers then scanned them. "He's well." "That's good." Aether smiled. "How's the business going?" Zhongli pulled out some money so he could pay for the flowers. (He got glaze lily's btw.)  "It's been  slow, but it's okay. What about your company?" Zhongli chuckled. "Oh, it's alright. we've been very busy lately and everyone is doing their hardest." Aether giggled. "That's nice. It must be amazing to own such a big company." Aether sighed then handed Zhongli his flowers. "Hey... i'm sure your store will get bigger eventually, it just takes time." Zhongli lifted Aether's head up and smiled. Aether smiled back. "Thank you Zhongli Sensei" And with that, Zhongli waved goodbye and left the store. It became quiet once again.
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Around 30 minutes later, many people started to come and go. Some of his friends came into the shop to pay a visit to Aether. Of course, they also bought some flowers. "Aether, hey!" Aether heard a familiar voice and shot his head up. He saw Venti. Venti waved and began walking towards Aether. But, he didn't come alone. Aether could see that he was dragging someone with him. "Hey Venti, what brings you here?" Aether tilted his head. "oh, you know, I just wanted to see you that all!" Venti smiled. "Who's with you? I saw you drag someone here." Venti looked confused for a moment. "Hm? Oh! Right!" Venti turned behind him and then turned back around with a person standing next to him. "This is Xiao! I wanted you to meet him so I brought him along with me!" Venti put his hands on Xiao's shoulders. "Come on, say hi!" Xiao had been looking at the ground this whole time. It was silent for a moment. "Hello, It's a pleasure to meet you.." Finally, he spoke. Aether was surprised for a moment. "Oh, um... It's nice to meet you too." Aether slightly smiled. "So, Aether. Lumine told me you had some strange dream hm?" Xiao slightly shot his head up. "Oh, right. It was very strange. I was in this type of fantasy world and most of the people in there looked like our friends." Xiao had finally looked up at Aether. "There was this one guy that was very important. I can't really remember his name though." Venti slightly tilted his head. "What happened at the end?" Aether was silent for a moment. "At the end..." It was quiet. "Aether, why are you crying!?" Venti cupped Aether's cheeks. Aether hadn't realized he started crying. Aether then glanced at Xiao. Their eyes locked for a moment. In that moment, Aether saw something. He saw the person that was in his dream. He had the same hair, same golden eyes. Aether quickly looked away and looked at Venti. "I-I'm okay, I'm okay. Sorry." Aether grabbed Venti's hands from his cheeks and placed them on the counter separating them. "The store is gonna close soon and I have to go meet up with Lumine." Venti had a worried expression. Xiao had been silent most of the time. "Oh, okay...just text me if you need anything, okay?" Venti and Xiao made their way to the entrance door. Venti waved goodbye to Aether and Aether waved back. He sighed. Aether then wiped the remaining tears off of his cheeks and then closed the shop for the day. We went to the back rooms and changed to his regular clothes. He made sure that all the plants and flowers had been watered and then turned off the lights. Walking out the door, he locked the shop entrance and began walking to the bus stop. The bus eventually came and Lumine walked off to go and hug Aether. "Have a nice day!" The bus driver had known their usual schedule by now and was very friendly. "Thank you!" Lumine waved as the bus drove off. They then started to make their way to their house. Once they arrived, Aether and Lumine made dinner and then headed off to bed. Aether changed into his pajamas and laid in bed for a few minutes on his phone. Once he was tired enough, he charged his phone and went to bed.
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"Aether" It was very faint but Aether could hear someone calling out his name. "Aether!" The voice became louder and louder. "Aether, please! It's me, Xiao!" Suddenly, Aether shot up from his bed. He looked around his room to see if Lumine had snuck in again. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He picked up his phone and checked the time. 2:30AM. He groaned and then laid back in bed. it took him a while to fall back asleep but eventually, sleep had taken over his body.
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Author's note: Hey guys! as you may already know, this is the second book to "Forever Together!" This book will be about how they met in their other life :) I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Have a good day and sleep tight!