WITH LOVE / XIAOVEN

sixteen.

authors note: HOOOO BOYY i wrote this in one sitting listening to the devilman crybaby and banana fish soundtrack IMMEDIATELY after finishing banana fish for the first time (im in so much pain fuck u lao... on another hand im very glad my loml sing is safe i love him so mucj you all do not understand.. and dont give me shit abt the main characters I KNOW IM EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO ASH I THINK IM BECOMING A KINNIE OKAY) 

ummm also there is a small discussion of xiaos identity as a gay man so pls be aware of that if it hits too close to home (no i didnt cry writing that scene what are u talking about/s) 

this chapter is mostly centered around xiao so im sowwy if you wanted to see venti </3

nd finally ty guys sm for 8k reads wtff thats so crazy to me??? but rly thank u guys so much T__T it rly means a lot that u guys like this weird ass fic that i started writing in hs all because my math teacher would put on movies everyday and not have us do actual work and i needed to entertain myself LOL

________________________________________

xiao's heart drops from the sound of lumine's voice. it's tense in the room and xiao is not enjoying it whatsoever.

"are you serious?" venti asks but all xiao wants to say is of course she is. she would never be one to joke like this but he instead stays still, unable to move.

lumine nods, "it's all over twitter- i think one of your names are trending, i'm not sure who, though. i'm sorry."

venti sighs as he turns to look at xiao who looks terrified about what's happening. xiao is not one to show much emotion, in fact almost all of the time he has a blank stare on his face but now xiao looked so young- fear was all that you could see on him. venti hated it.

xiao shakily sighs to get out his phone and see the tweet when his phone began ringing, showing ganyu's name as the contact.

"i'm gonna take this," xiao says as he then walks outside the apartment to answer it.

"hello?" ganyu asks on the other side of the phone. her voice was sweet and comforting, but xiao was only afraid at this moment.

"hi." he says quietly as he sits down next to the apartment door. he hears a sigh on the other side, she's nervous like him. he knew ganyu was an anxious person but she always calmed herself down so easily but it seemed like it wasn't happening this time.

"is it true?" she asks and xiao cannot help the tears that well in his eyes as he answers a quiet, "yes."

"oh." she says. she sounds so... so shocked? xiao doesn't know what to call it because he doesn't want to even think about the possibility of it being hatred in her voice.

a tear trails down his cheeks as he asks, "do you see me any differently?"

ganyu sighs. xiao was always so, so sensitive about his image even if it seemed like he didn't care, he always did. xiao was still young, she knows that, he didn't grow up normally- happy.

"i don't," she says, and she means it. she really does. xiao will always be her youngest brother even if they weren't blood related.

"has... has anyone from the company seen it?" xiao asks and ganyu hesitates answering. she doesn't want to tell him the truth. but she has to- she wouldn't want anyone lying to her in this situation.

"yes," she says, "zhongli and jean have seen it already. apparently people were calling the ceo minutes after the tweet went out."

"oh."