Read to me ~ Xingyun

40

Tw// mention of prison, child abuse and murder.

Chongyun POV:

I lay on the end of the bed eating a popsicle with nothing but my shorts on, since it was summer now it was starting to get really hot and as we all know, I don't do heat.

It was 7am and I had woken up before Xingqiu, he was still asleep, I don't know how he wasn't woken up by the heat but I wasn't going to wake him up,

After a while he woke up and looked at me, he seemed to freeze,

I looked at him a little confused and then remembered I wasn't wearing a top, I sat up and decided to play dumb,

"What is it?" I asked,

"Nothing. You just look very... Hot."

"I mean it is 40°c..."

He looked a little annoyed that I'd 'missed' the compliment but he simply nodded his head and crawled over to me,

"It's too hot for cuddles today so I'll just leave you alone, i dont want you overheating." He smiled,

"No no, you can hold my hand!" I said Insistently and he smiled again before taking my hand,

I moved his hand to my lips and gave it a little kiss, I needed to hold him in some way. Otherwise he could get taken again. It always felt like if I let him go for even a moment, something terrible would happen. Even just leaving the room.

I dont know if I was scared of being on my own or if I was scared of leaving him alone but either way I didn't ever want to let him go.

"Now when do you want to get up?" Xingqiu asked,

"Tomorrow.. if its cooled down." I responded sleepily,

"Don't be silly yun, we could go to the docs? Or maybe down to Mondstadt? They always have a nice cool breeze down there."

"I guess the docs would be fun.." I huffed,

"Alright well we can go later since I can tell there is no getting you up now."

I responded with a small 'mhm' sound before stuffing the popsicle in my mouth, it was way too hot today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xingqiu POV:

Chongyun was holding my hand pretty tight, I don't know what was going on with him but recently he seemed to be not letting me go or even be alone,

Maybe I'm just exaggerating.. maybe he isn't not letting me go and I'm just overthinking it.

I tried to move my hand away but he grabbed it and pulled it back.

Yep. I definitely wasn't exaggerating.

After a while of just sitting on the bed I decided it was a good time to get up.

I stood up and almost got pulled back down because of Yuns hesitance to let me move independently,

"Come on, let's go now." I smiled, pulling Chongyun up with me,

He seemed grumpy but it was probably just the heat,

I got dressed and he threw on a thin t-shirt to stay cool.

With that we went downstairs, grabbed some quick breakfast and walked to the docs,

The sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, an unusual sight for liyue but not a bad one.

We decided to sit behind a boat so that we had some shade, I was hoping Chongyun wouldn't overheat because I know how much he hates it in general, let alone in public.

As soon as we sat down yun let out a big sigh,

"What is it? Are you ok?" I asked,

"Yeah its just.. really hot. But the shade here is nice.. and the breeze coming from the sea."

I smiled, he seemed less grumpy than he was this morning.

However he still hadn't let go of my hand since we left the house.

I knew I needed to confront him about this eventually but.. I didn't know how. I didn't want to make my usual mistake of procrastinating so much that I overthink it to the point I cant do it, so I decided to do it now.

"Yun.. are you alright? You've been.. really clingy lately.. I'm a little worried."

"Xingqiu." Yun replied,

"Yeah?"

"I love you." He stated, not taking his eyes off of the sea,

"Uh- I love you too." I replied, caught off guard by the sudden statement, he hadn't answered my question..

"I love you so much.. sometimes too much.. and when you got taken.. by the balladeer I mean, It just... I mean I don't think I've ever been so afraid in my life. And it seems that no matter how hard it try I cant seem to protect you so.. I'm scared that if I let you go.. you'll get taken or hurt again..."

Ah. That answered my question.

"Oh... Well... my father is gone now. In a maximum security prison in inazuma. And he isn't coming back."

"Isn't maximum security only for murderers...?"

"Yes and my father is gone for child abuse and attempted murder."

"Who did he try and kill?"

"Well.. when he um.. hurt you... the police classed that as attempted murder since it could've easily killed you..."

"Oh.."

"But it didn't. And I'm so incredibly proud of you for that.."

I pulled him closer to me and lay a small kiss on his forehead, I didn't know what he was feeling right now but I knew it wasn't good and I wanted to try and make him feel better.

"Thank you, Xingqiu.." he whispered, laying his head on my shoulder,

"Anything for you my dear.." I responded, holding his hand a little tighter,

At that moment I decided, from now on I would protect Chongyun instead. He had spent our whole relationship protecting me and trying to save me from... everything.. including myself. But who was there to save him..?

I love him. More than anything. So I decided I would never be enough of a coward to watch him get hurt again.