𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐄𝐑 | xɪᴀᴏ x ᴀᴇᴛʜᴇʀ (On Revision)

022

Aether

I learned two things today.

One. Chongyun can't draw. I can't seem to guess what he's trying to draw because the shape looks like a ram with a banana dangling from his buttocks. I don't know.

And two. I noticed that Xiao kept glancing at me. But he immediately looked away and pretended to participate in the game whenever I caught him.

He seems confused and has a lot of questions in mind. Does this have to do with what I said to him on the balcony? Does he remember now? Does that mean he finally gets the message? Did my feelings finally reach him? My heart wouldn't calm down thinking about it.

"It's a horse." My senses went back to the real world when his voice rang in my ears.

"Yes! I am not a failure!" Chongyun exclaimed in relief.

"Your horse looks like a ram with a banana dangling on his butt."

My eyes widened when we shared the same thought, and to my surprise, my hand clasped his hand. "Same! I thought I was the only one who thought of that."

He got shocked and turned red because of my touch. I immediately removed my hand from him and apologized for my sudden actions.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I don't want to let it slide that you two just insulted my drawing skills," Chongyun said.

"At least your team got a point. As for us, a certain person apparently drew a chair instead of a horse," Xi said, glaring at Venti.

"And he said that he was confident about his art," Kazuha added.

Venti surrendered and tried to reason with them. "Guys, I can explain. It turns out I have a special ability that I don't do well under pressure."

"Or simply state that you don't know how to draw," Kazuha mumbled.

"I heard that!" Venti yelled and gave him a death glare.

"Can we move on to the next round?" Chongyun asked impatiently. But no one bothered to reply to him, which caused him to sigh.

As for me, I don't want to intervene in their conversation because it's stupid in the first place. My eyes landed on Xiao, who was spacing out in the corner.

I had a wicked idea to tease him, so I leaned closer to him and blew on his ear, which made him yelp and blush. His reaction made me laugh because it was too cute and funny to watch.

"What the hell did you do that for?" He asked.

I grinned and answered, "No reason. I just want to."

He blushed even more, and I stuck my tongue out at him. It seems that he finally realized my feelings for him from the way he reacted to me.

"What's the commotion?" Chongyun moved closer to us and asked.

"Nothing much. Are we still playing the game?"

He sighed and answered, "I don't know with them."

"Hey! Can we now proceed to the next round of the game?" I yelled to grab their attention.

"Yup! I'm already satisfied." Xi responded back with a smile on his face.

"What do you mean?"

Kazuha tapped my shoulder and directed his eyes at Venti, who looks like the low-budget version of Pennywise with an 'I love big dicks' text on his forehead.

I tried to hold my laughter and asked, "What happened with you?"

He sniffled and answered, "Xi is so mean! He drew my face without my permission. This is clearly abuse."

Chongyun joined the conversation and immediately burst out laughing when he saw Venti. Kazuha and I tried to secretly laugh with him, but we failed when Venti noticed us.

"You really outdid yourself today." I complimented Xi and wiped the tears from my eyes.

He smirked at me and said, "I know, and that is what you called art."

We decided to continue the game, and it is now Xiao's turn. It took us a couple of minutes to convince him, but he eventually gave in when he realized he didn't have a choice.

"It's a box," Chongyun said.

"No," Xiao replied.

Chongyun tried to guess again. "It's a box with wheels."

"Fuck, no! It's not a box," Xiao answered.

"Is it an animal?" Xiao refused to make eye contact with me and only nodded his head in reply.

"Jeez. When it comes to me, you're a total asshole. But when it comes to Aether, you're a whole different person," Chongyun said, which made us blush.