"why are you here?"
you've always been best friends with xiao, ever since elementary. although, he oddly became popular in high school even though he rarely speaks. you couldn't deny he was fairly attractive, and all the girls fell for him.
though...
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back when you and xiao were little,
you always used to tease him, starting with the smallest things. even now, it was basically a known habit of yours to him. though, to be fair, he never really complained and just managed to tolerate it over time.
the both of you were now walking back from school to your houses. on the way, you passed by a small playground you two used to play by everyday during summer one year when you were in elementary school.
"oh, xiao! remember that playground?" you ask, pointing to it excitedly.
"hm? oh...yes. that's the one we went to everyday one summer, right?" he confirms, eyes narrowing at the sight.
"correct as usual! man, just seeing it brings back so many memories.." you sigh, bringing a hand up to your forehead.
"do you want to go on the playground?"
the sudden question made you jolt a little, especially it coming from xiao. you look at him and smirk.
"hmm, does xiao, one of the most serious and intelligent people i've known my whole life, want to go back on the kiddie playground?" you tease, while xiao looks back at you unamused.
"...only if you want to." he replies, looking to the side with the slightest bit of pink on his cheeks from embarrassment.
you smile at him happily as he looks at you confused.
"and to think you were the one teasing me earlier..." he sighs, complying and pushing you down the slide as you shout playfully.
"weeeeee! oh man, that was fun! your turn, xiao!" you call out to him, telling him to go down the slide.
he eventually goes down the slide as you cheer for him, and makes it down to the floor. he gets off, feeling a bit childish for what he had just done.
"...shall we try the monkey bars next?" he asks in a sarcastic tone, knowing you absolutely despise monkey bars (mostly due to the blisters you get on your hands).
"x-xiao! you know i don't like monkey bars...my hands and arms aren't exactly the strongest, y'know.." you ponder, taking off your blazer and lifting up your sleeve.
"well, that's fine. you can just watch me." he says, shutting down the matter instantly. he didn't want to force you into doing something you didn't want to do.
casually, he slid off his blazer and took off his tie before rolling both of his sleeves up, heading to the bars.
"um, if you're really sure, xiao...just be careful! don't hurt yourself! if you're going to fall, i'll try my best to catch you...?" you end off with a questionable tone. you imagine yourself trying to catch him and ending up falling straight on your butt in the process.
however, you were pretty sure xiao wouldn't fall. he was always good at monkey bars, so you weren't one to doubt him.
you could see the faintest slip of a smile of xiao's face at your sentence before one of his hands grabbed onto the first bar.
"thanks y/n, but i think it's best you just stay clear. i don't want you getting hurt; that's probably the last thing i want out of this." he replied.
before you could respond, he went skillfully through all of the bars in a short amount of time before making it to the end. seeing how gracefully he went slightly made your heart race despite both of you on a literal playground.
he dropped down and walked over to you with the slightest of sweat dripping down his head as he ran a hand through his hair.
"what was my time?" he asked, before shortly realizing you weren't timing him.
"you...you never asked me to time you! probably a minute max, or something.." you reply, not being able to look him straight in the face for one second. you couldn't deny he looked unquestionably attractive just now.
"hm, i'll go with your judgement then. also," he says, taking his blazer off the other bar he had hung it on, and flinging it over his shoulder.
"man, xiao, you looked awesome when you were doing the monkey bars..." you blurted on your way back home. you were too tired to even notice what you were saying anymore.
xiao, however, noticed that you seemed a bit more tired than usually. likely from the tests you guys just took in school before going to the playground.
"...thanks." he replies, mentally slapping himself in the face for giving such a blunt and sharp answer.
"yeah...hey, are you blushing?" you ask, looking directly at his face. he looked back at you, a bit shocked at how direct you were being.
"i-i'm not...you're just imagining it." he denies, as he looks away from your face. the blush on his face grew even larger when he said that; he realized it, even you did as well.
"hehe, you hypocrite. you're probably blushing even more since you just looked away from my face. don't be embarrassed, xiao, i've seen every expression on your face a million times." you mumbled.
"shut up, y/n..." he whispered.
"make me." you joked, not realizing just how seriously xiao took those two words.
a brief moment of silence passed, as both of you just arrived at your house. before you knew it, xiao immediately spun you to face him and grabbed your uniform tie, pulling you closer to him.
the immediate lack of space between you two made you instantly awake from your odd slumber, realizing just how close you two were. your eyes quickly widened and your face immediately flushed red.
xiao just looked at you with a serious look before his lips slowly curved into a smirk.
"x-xiao...?" you barely managed to mutter, speechless.
"hmm, it seems that managed to make you stay silent for a few seconds." he lightly laughed at your expression, before letting go of your tie.
you quickly backed a couple of few feet away from him, fixing your tie. you looked back at him as you noticed he was staring at you this whole time.
"wh..what was that for?" you asked him.
"you told me to make you shut up, so i just did as such."
"uh....huh..?"
"see you tomorrow, y/n." he said, before heading back to his house.
you looked at him; stunned, confused, and embarrassed.
