The Winter Boy's Novel (Xingyun FanFic)

Chapter 7

Xingqiu's POV

I couldn't focus on anything. My head was hurting as well. Everything was blurry. "Hey, maybe we should go." Chongyun said. I forgot that I wasn't wearing shoes. Chongyun and I walked silently home, leaning against each other without realizing it. A sudden wave of exhaustion crashed over me when we arrived. So sudden that I nearly fainted. "Uh... Xingqiu, do you wanna sleep with me?" Chongyun asked. "Yes please. I'm not feeling very well." I murmured. I climbed into Chongyun's bed and pulled the blankets over the both of us. "You looked tired." Chongyun whispered. I had only enough energy to muster up: "Mhmm..." "Here. Roll on your side and I can rub your back if you want." he said. I rolled over and Chongyun began tracing things onto my back. "Thank... you..." I murmured. "Shhhh. Don't try to talk. You're exhausted. Just sleep." His words lulled me to sleep as he whispered, "That's it. Sleep, Xingqiu. I know you're tired. Rest up. There you go."

At first, my sleep was filled with vivid dreams, then it quieted a bit. After a while, I began having a nightmare. It was about my father, which only made things twice as worse.

"Xingqiu, come here, my boy, you should look into the Feiyun Commerce Guild." my father said. The next thing I knew, he was dragging me by my wrists into a dark room where he began yelling at me. "I don't understand, I thought I was being the best father to you that I could be! I know I was! And you repay me by absorbing yourself in stacks of books and Guhua arts?! To think that you're my son! To think that my legacy will be left with you until you die! To think that it's come to this!" "Father, I-" "You shall not speak to me in that manner! In fact, you will never speak to me again!"

And I was left in that dark room with my father gone, but his words haunting everything in the room. Each and every word was imprinted on the wall and several on my hand. He called me a bitch and a dumbass. I

felt more terrified than I ever was in my entire life. The fine line between reality and dreams was blurring. It was so real. I could feel it happening. Envision it. And yes. I was scared. Scared and scarred and mortified. That my father would go this far and cross this line. That everything was starting to blur and fade and what I knew was becoming the unknown. What I knew now would be the unknown tomorrow. Everything was so far away.

Fading.

Slowly.

Chongyun's POV

"Nmmm... Xingqiu, stop kicking me." I mumbled. Xingqiu'd almost kicked me completely off of my own bed. I finally gave up trying to tell him to stop and sat up. "Xingqiu, I'm sorry, but you keep kicking me and-" I stopped talking. Xingqiu was twitching in his sleep, murmuring something repeatedly, and clutching his wrist in his other hand. Beads of sweat rolled down his face and his mouth was open slightly, mouthing something. "Xingqiu?" I asked, touching his arm lightly. I felt his forehead. He had a burning fever. And I think he was having a nightmare. I laid back down next to him and brushed the hair out of his face. "Father, leave me be..." he was murmuring over and over again. Poor Xingqiu. "I'm here, Xingqiu. Chongyun's here. It'll be okay. It's just a nightmare. It's not real. I'm right here. Everything'll be okay." I whispered into his ear. His hands were shaking. I gripped them in mine. "Shhhh. Don't worry. I'm right here. It'll all be okay." I told him quietly. I stroked his hair gently in an attempt to calm him down. His hands stopped shaking but he remained tense and feverish-looking. He rolled over and mumbled something that I didn't quite catch.

It was 7:20ish when I woke up again. Xingqiu was curled up beside me, sleeptalking as he normally did. I guess he'd calmed down a bit. I realized that his legs were on top of mine and my arm was wrapped around his shoulders. I wonder when that happened. I tried not to wake him up when I moved, but it was an unsuccessful attempt. "Ah... my liege... good morning." Xingqiu murmured. "Morning. Are you okay?" I felt his forehead. Still feverish, but a bit better. "Mhmmm... you were there, weren't you, my liege?" he asked. "What?" "I heard you talking to me in my nightmare. Thank you. It comforted me." I blushed. "Oh. Yeah. That was nothing. You can tell me about your nightmare if you want to. You were having a fever last night, maybe that's what caused it." "Ah..." he mumbled. "A fever... probably." He rolled over, clearly still tired. Or maybe it was the fever talking. He didn't sound like himself. Probably the fever. "If you wanna keep sleeping, I'll be outside, or whatever... or you can get up and-" "Yeah, not in the mood for anything really. Just don't feel like moving today." He threw his arm over his eyes, laughing feverishly. It definitely didn't sound like Xingqiu, but I didn't want to insist that he slept because of his nightmare. "I'll go outside with you as long as you're not doing anything weird." He laughed again. I shook my head. "I'll be right back with a wet rag. You're really feverish."

I laid the wet rag over Xingqiu's forehead. He refused to move and kept rambling on about random things, which worried me some, but I tried to ignore it. He eventually fell into a light, feverish sleep and I took a popsicle break. About an hour later, Xingqiu woke up slowly. He turned his head on his pillow and coughed a few times before blinking sleepily at me. "Chongyun...? Ah... oh... right... Sorry for the trouble I caused you, my liege." he murmured. "No, no, it's fine, seriously. If you're not feeling well, it's my job to take care of you." I replied. He rolled over and closed his eyes for a minute before sitting up and tying his hair back. He wandered to his desk and picked up a book. "So I take it you're feeling a lot better?" I asked. He nodded. "Yes. Much. Thank you." He said before opening his book, though he looked a little feverish to me. "Oh, hey do you wanna watch a movie or something tonight?" I asked. It was a random question to match the random request. He glanced up at me from his book. "Alright. It sounds fun, my liege."