modernity - xiaoven

17.

16 was nice.

and now im dropping this.

yall ain't ready yet. *cough* 20 *cough*

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shortly after venti had fallen asleep, xiao found him immediately cuddling into him, and that he was the little spoon.

at first, xiao had tried to wriggle into a more comfortable postition, which worked. until he ended up having his face shoved into venti's chest. that simple action completely made it so he couldn't move, so giving up, he snuggled into his friend, yawning.

soon enough, he fell asleep.

----

xiao woke up an hour or so after venti, and he awoke to the other playing with his hair, as he hummed quietly. he also found that he had wrapped himself around the other's torso, which was surprisingly, well to him at least, extremely comfortable.

xiao also figured that he, for once, actually got decent sleep. yawning quietly, and fighting the embarrassment that was to come if venti acknowledged that he was awake, he moved closer to the other in an attempt to fall back asleep.

before xiao fell back asleep, venti lightly shook him with a light chuckle. "cmon sleepyhead. it's eleven. you gotta get up soon."

the half-asleep man only responded with a grumble, as he moved closer to venti.

"when did you fall asleep?"

"a little after you..." xiao murmured, with yet another yawn.

"well, i've been laying here for a while, letting you sleep, and i want to get up."

"no."

eventually, though, xiao ended up letting go of venti, though when he attempted to move away from the other, venti held him there.

"if i got trapped by you for an hour, then i'm trapping you for an hour."

"bullshit."

"nope~!"

needless to say, for the next two hours, the two lay there, idly talking.

----

once they finally got up though, xiao found that venti had charged his phone. grabbing the device and turning it on, and he checked his messages in case zhongli had said something.

though almost immediately after reading the first message he'd seen, he dropped his phone.

apparently, that was enough to grab venti's attention, and the other ended up walking over and hugging him.

"you okay...?"

as if xiao didn't hear him, he continued mumbling to himself, "they're going to find me, they found my numbe-"

"xiao."

"they're right- i'm too traumatized, they're the onl-"

"xiao."

"-y ones that car-"

"xiao! look at me."

finally broken out of this state, he turned to face venti.

"are you okay...? I heard your phone fall, and you were mumbling about something?"

"... i'm not okay, i've never been..." was the only response he got, in a small whisper.

"do you want to explain...?"

"well, when i was young, before dad adopted me or became my foster parent, i was raised by my siblings, and i had some close friends. aether, keqing, ningguang, ganyu, hu tao, and yanfei... my brother left, shortly after a plane crash killed the other three. dad took me in, and the group stayed by my side throughout it all. funnily enough, he got in contact one last time because of what happened... to tell me to leave the group..."

after taking a moment to compose himself, he continued, "when we were all seventeen, a few years ago, before dad even met the group. it was surprising actually, dad only had met the three and yanfei. hu tao hadn't been in town that week, and yanfei was in law school... the three weren't as nice as the other two-"

"wait, three? but there are four others."

"ill get there. the three were smart, and they knew how to get under my skin, and they brought up my siblings in private, and managed to convince me to..."

"to what?"

"let's just say that i no longer go by my old name, had to go to court, and was managed to be cleared for a crime."

"and what about the fourth person?"

"... aether's dead."

"what."

"aether's... dead... and it's my fault."

"xiao, listen to me."

"what...?"

"it's not your fault, i don't care how he died or how you're involved, it's not your fault. from what i've gathered, the three are bullies... and to think i trusted ningguang..."

"what?"

"well, ningguang's one of my friend's moms. she married his adoptive mother."

"i think she's changed... keqing and ganyu are the ones that target me still. they blame me for their ruined record."

"okay. wait- those are the two that gave me directions to the mall!"

"that makes sense... they used to live in this area... before you say anything, it was my choice to stay in liyue. it's my home."

"i understand that."

"... anyways... i'm starting to think that they're right on one aspect."

"what aspect?"

"i'm too traumatized to love..."

"xiao. don't you fucking dare think that. no matter what, there's always someone who will love you, whether it be romantically or platonically."

"... thank you... i should get heading home now, i told dad i'd head over once i woke up. he'll probably be worried."

"alright! seeya some other time, right?"

"bye, and yeah, i guess."