Warm mug || Xiaother || Modern AU

New acquaintances | Chapter 9

Aether stood up, "thanks for listening."

"It is late. Are you sure you'll be safe?" Zhongli asked, also standing up. Childe stayed seated. "I'll be alright," Aether turned towards the entrance, putting his shoes back on. Zhongli saw him off.

As the blond walked along the cold, empty street, he evaluated his life choices. It seemed that the archons were not on his side. No matter, he'd be able to take his mind off it once he transferred to a new school. 

He was greeted by Lumine when he entered his own apartment. "How was your walk, brother?"

Aether looked at Lumine flatly, "Xiao is Zhongli's son."

Lumine blinked. "Isn't that interesting," she turned her gaze away. Honestly, she was not aware of this information.  "So did you go see Zhongli?"

Aether nodded, walking towards the kitchen without saying anything. Lumine, on her side, walked out of the room.  He took some food out of the fridge and left for his room. 

-*-

It was officially time to start school, although a tad bit late compared to the other students. It couldn't be helped, truly.

When Aether opened the door to the classroom, a ruckus of sound bombarded him. Many conversations could be heard, each of different topics. He scanned the room, observing many different and unique faces. What was most noteworthy was the array of hair colours they possessed.

He spotted Xiao, at that moment chose to sit farther away. Preferably, Xiao wouldn't notice him at all.

The transfer student walked over to the left side of the room, the side without windows. Someone spotted him, "are you the transfer student people have been talking about?" they peeped. They were cheerful. "Yes, I guess I am."

"I'm Xiangling!" they smiled. "I'm Chongyun," another one joined. The two were speaking together prior to Aether's arrival. "Nice to meet you, I'm Aether."

"Do you know anyone at school?" Xiangling asked, taking a seat in between the light blue-haired man and him. Aether thought for a while. He has spoken to Xiao before, and he's even hung out with him, but would that count as knowing? He had barely been able to strike a conversation as far as that goes.

"No, not yet," he smiled. Xiangling seemed overjoyed, and Chongyun shot him a pitiful look. "Want to hang out with us at lunch?" 

"Sure," Aether said before the bell rang. 

A teacher walked in. She was by far the tallest person in the class. "Settle down, class is in session." The teacher has white hair but did not look old. Her eyes were a pretty amber colour, and she appeared to be on the wealthy side of her attire alone. "Today, we have a transfer student. I hope you will all treat them well," she gestured for Aether to stand, and so he did, "please introduce yourself to the class."

"Hello, I'm Aether. I transferred here from," he paused, "a very distant country. I'll be in your care from now on," he waved.

He sat back down after the teacher hummed. "Excellent, Aether. I'm Ningguang." she lifted a book from a pile on her desk, "now class, please open your book 'stories of Morax'..."

~*~

Class leaned towards the mundane side, as all do. 

When the bell rang, students took their bags and began leaving. As for Aether, he was still packing his things. "Do you have an idea of where you want to sit during lunch?" Xiangling inquired. Aether shook his head. "Well, my sister is at this school too."

"Want to find your sister? We can sit with her," Chongyun added to the conversation. "I'll message her, hold on."

Lumine, where are you eating lunch?

I found a group of people that were interested in eating with me, if you haven't found anyone to talk to yet you can join us.

No, it's fine. I found some people

The new student closed his phone and pocketed it, "she's found people to eat with. Let's go," he additionally put his backpack on.

"I brought food from home, what about you Aether?"

Suddenly, the realization hit him. He had been so preoccupied with his impression of Xiao that he forgot to make any lunch for himself. "Well, I think I'll buy something to eat," he awkwardly, and cheesily, rubbed the back of his head. "That's fine then, we can meet at the 53rd door. What about you Chongyun?"

"Xingqiu insisted on bringing me food."

Aether did not know any Xingqiu but assumed they were friends.

They parted ways when Aether was near the cafeteria. He approached the food options, and sighed. 

The food didn't look unedible, but it didn't look exactly appetizing either. He picked an egg sandwich and went to pay.