Your Hands in Mine (Discontinued Currently)

Chapter 1 - New Student?

Hi there, I'm Galaxia! This is my first time actually publishing one of my stories, so I apologize for any mistakes. I also put this through 2 different sites before pasting it here because I realized one of them didn't have spell check. This is a high school AU because I haven't done the special quests with Venti or Xiao yet because I want to get Xiao first before doing Venti's quest.  Anyways hope you enjoy~

The video at the top is sung by the actual VA's for Qiqi, Klee, Venti, and Xiao (Chinese VA's) and I really recommend if you haven't heard it yet!

3rd Person POV
"Xiao time to get up!" Childe yells from the kitchen."Mmmmm" Xiao says as his eyes start to flutter open, and get adjusted to the morning sunlight. He goes into the bathroom and starts to get ready for school. After he got dressed, he walked down stairs where he was greeted by his family. (In case your wondering there is Zhongli, Childe, and Qiqi)

Xiao's POV
"Does brother want coconut milk?" Qiqi says as she slowly sips her coconut milk."Sure Qiqi '' I say with a smile. To be honest I wasn't feeling too hungry, so coconut milk would do just fine. Besides who can't resist Qiqi wanting to help me. "Thanks Qiqi" I say as she hands me a glass of coconut milk. Once I finish, I get my backpack and head out the door to go to school. "Bye Dad, Papa, and Qiqi!" I yell just before closing the front door. The walk to school wasn't that far so I decided to walk there on nice clear days. As I approached my classroom I started to hear footsteps getting louder and louder from behind me. Before I had a chance to react I was tackled by someone, who I could recognize without even having to look at them. "Really Hu Tao" I said as I finally looked at her with an unamused expression.
"Hey Xiao, how ya doing?" She says in her usual happy tone.
"Just fine until someone decided it was a good idea to jump on me" I exclaimed while getting up from the floor. "Aiya, don't be such a joy kill" she exclaimed. "Anyways did you hear that we are getting a new student!" she said with excitement in her eyes. "Wait, what?!" I said in shock. We are having a new student, since when! Will they be in any of my classes, they won't disrupt the flow of how my classes usually are, right? My mind was racing with questions, until someone hit me on the head to bring me back to reality.
"Earth to Xiao?" Hu Tao exclaimed as she hit my head."Ow what was that for?" I said as I rubbed the spot she hit. "That was for not listening, now come on, we have to get to class." As we walked into the class I spotted a new person that I didn't recognize. He had dark blue hair that transitioned into a beautiful teal which was put into 2 cute braids. His eyes seemed to have the same color pattern as his hair, it was mesmerizing. God, he looks so adorable, I could jus-
"Hey Xiao you got a crush on the new kid" Hu Tao whispered into my ear, making me jump back."Goodness Hu Tao, don't scare me like that, and no why would I?" I exclaimed in my most calm tone trying to not raise any more suspicion. "Uh huh" she said as she went to go sit down.

Hu Tao POV
It is obvious that Xiao likes that new kid, I can guarantee it! Xiao was staring at him for a long time, and I swear I even saw his cheeks turn a light pink! That isn't the cold Xiao I know, that is Xiao that is in love! Now I just gotta find a way to make the new kid become friends with Xiao first.

Xiao POV
I really hope that fooled Hu Tao, but knowing her, even if I did she will still have her suspicions. But either way I don't like him, I just think he seems like a nice guy. Yeah, that's it! There is nothing wrong with that at all. -Couple Minutes Later-
"All right everyone settle down, class has now begun" Ms. Jean said as she walked into the room. "We have a new student today, so please listen up and be respectful" Then I see the new kid go up to the front of the classroom ready to introduce himself.
"Hi there I'm Venti! I love music, the wind, and uh- cecilias are my favorite flowers'' the new kid exclaimed. Wow, Venti.... He's even gotten an angelic name, it was also quite cute at how he was struggling at the end. I smiled for a second, until I saw Hu Tao looking at me with a mischievous look. My smile quickly faded as I didn't want to feed onto her entertainment. We then just did whatever you do in English, and Ms. Jean introduced a new project that would require us to be in pairs. Please, please let us choose partners, I thought in my head.
"Okay, I'm going to be choosing partners," Ms. Jean exclaimed. Damn it, this was a perfect chance for me to become friends with Venti. I started to space out once again until I heard my name called.
"Xiao you will be with Venti," Ms. Jean said. Oh my gosh, is this true?! This is amazing, now I can become friends with him! Wait, why am I getting so happy about trying to be friends with him. Ugh it's disgusting how happy I can be with people other than my family. Maybe it's because he seems like he won't be as annoying as the others? Yup, that's why, nothing crazy! I then saw Venti start to come up to my desk.
"Umm, Xiao right?" Venti asked."Mhm" I replied back with my elbow on the desk, and my chin on my fist."So when do you want to work on the project," Venti asked with a smile."We could do it today after school at my house, if you are fine with it?" I replied."YES! Uh- I mean yes, okay by then I'll see you!" Venti said as he rushed to leave. Then I saw him running back. "Sorry, forgot to give my number, text me when you want me to come over!" Venti exclaimed as he ran out the classroom, this time for good.
"Aiya and here I was thinking of how to make you guys become friends, but you beat me too it!" Hu Tao said as she put her hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, yeah whatever" I muttered as I yanked my shoulder away. Once lunchtime hit I was bombarded with a gang of people, who I call my friends. "Hey Xiao, how is it going with Venti!" Chongyun exclaimed as he ran towards me.
"How'd you know about Venti?" I asked with a straight face.
"I mean we did have Math with Hu Tao last period, and if you know her then it's quite simple and not at all shocking when she comes with some new gossip to talk about. That gossip today, just so happened to be about you and that Venti kid." Xingqiu explained.
"So care to explain how it's going?" Xingqiu asked.
"No," I said as walked over to our usual table, not wanting to engage any longer in this conversation. Just wait until Hu Tao comes, I'm going to have to talk some sense into her. Who goes around telling everyone something that you aren't even sure about?! May I add that it had to do with me! I don't want anyone talking about me, or else everyone will start chiming in because I've never been involved in their gossip conversations before. Why couldn't it just be something like Chongyun and Xingqiu going on a date finally. A couple moments later I then saw Hu Tao coming towards the table, and got up. "Alright Hu Tao, I need to te-" I started out until I saw a familiar boy right behind her."Hmm, what?" she asked."What is Venti doing here? You didn't drag him here did you!" I exclaimed."Venti tell me the truth, did this person here drag you here against your own will." I said in a serious tone."Don't worry abo-" he started out with, until I cut him off."No, this is a big deal and we will have a conversation about this once I'm back." I said glaring at Hu Tao."Here, I'll walk you back to where you are supposed to be since it's really crowded." I stated."Oh really, thanks Xiao! I think they actually might be on the whole other side of the cafeteria" Venti said with a soft chuckle. "That's fine, I'll take you there." I said as I grabbed his hand and led him to where his friend group was. "So who'd you befriend?" I asked as we were walking to try to start a conversation."Hmm, Oh! I met some people in some of my classes that seemed real nice. Let's see, there is Barbara, Fischl, Bennett, Razor, and Amber." Venti replied."Oh wow, it's nice that you found yourself nice friends. I heard that they are really kind, supportive, and not annoying. Unlike some people..." I said the last part way softer than the rest. Venti then ended up giggling. He didn't actually hear what I said, right? I could feel my cheeks start to warm up. It's only from embarrassment, so it's alright. But if it's from embarrassment, why is my heart beating so fast, and why do I feel so calm in his presence.... 

Ahem, so hopefully that didn't go too bad~ I'm actually not really expecting much views on this, but if it does get more then 5 then I'm actually gonna be quite surprised. I'm honestly writing this because I love the ship, and this time I'm deciding to actually publish it. I'm not sure how I want to post the chapters though. Right now I'm thinking about finishing the whole story, then posting every part every so often, that way it has a set pattern to updating. This chapter can also be seen as the teaser chapter to see if you like it. Since I just started, I probably won't post for a little bit until I get it finished. Since I did also start this story today and got this chapter done, hopefully I'll be able to finish one chapter per day. But of course that will only happen if I have enough free time. I appreciate any feedback as long as it's not meant to be in a completely hurtful way! I'll also add that this is inspired by all Xiaoven AU high school or college fanfics (haven't read a lot yet) because if I've never stumbled upon them, it would've slipped my mind that I could have done an AU since I don't know too much about them in game.