light|•|xiaoven

2

oh how greatly was he mistaken.

at recess his usual group of bullies came to make fun of him again.

whilst getting beaten up, at the corner of his eye he saw venti talking to a large group of people.

"quite the popular one already," he mumbled.

the immature fuckers, as xiao liked to call them, made more and more comments about his diamond shaped birthmark on his forehead calling it gross and weird and all lame insults. xiao was very hurt, and he was about to get yet another emotional outburst, but he had to contain himself.

he finally couldn't stand it anymore and beat the bullies to the ground. everyone's attention turned to him. everyone stared in shock, even venti.

"ugly this ugly that, come up with better insults the next time you try to offend me." with that, he walked away, leaving the bullies like scared puppies on the ground.

after that incident, he got even lonelier. he was all alone at lunch, and nobody dared to get near him. not that he cared.

he got detention for beating students up too, and his mother was very angry.

"YOU MISTAKE! WHY DID WE EVEN GIVE BIRTH TO YOU?! YOH DON'T BELONG HERE, YOU DISGRACE! GO TO YOUR ROOM, YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR THE REST OF THE MONTH." his mother said, with a bottle of wine in her hands. she threw the bottle at xiao and it missed him by an inch. his sister, ganyu, was horrified to have to witness all of this, but she did not dare to say anything.

xiao said nothing and turned straight to his room, and plopped on his bed. he heard ganyu trying to come in to comfort him, but his mother dragged ganyu away.

at school, xiao's only "friend", venti still sat next to xiao but daren't open his mouth. he was a little... intimidated by xiao.

at one regular boring lunch break, he poked on his food, not wanting to eat, when someone tapped his shoulder. he flinched violently.

"who's there?!"

"calm down, xiao."

he took a closer look at the man's face.

"mr zhongli...? what are you-"

"venti told me to come talk to you. he said you seemed lonely and needed company."

"...can we at least to this in private? i'm getting stares again."

"that guy had just beaten people up and now he's a teacher's pet? wow."

"how fake does he need to be?"

he heard whispers like that all around him and zhongli completely understood xiao and led him outside.

he led xiao outside the cafeteria and to the school yard.

"venti told me you're quite lonely, and he saw you getting beaten up a few days ago. are you alright now?"

"..yeah. how did you and venti come to know each other anyway?"

"my mother's friend's son. i'm much older than him but we still get along quite well. so... is there anything i can help you with in this situation?"

"...no, i'm doing alright."

much to zhongli's dismay, the bell rang.

"alright then, if you ever need help swing by the counsellor's office."

"thanks...?"

xiao was beyond confused, but he felt grateful anyway. his school life was coming to be, he thought.