Xingyun Oneshots

67 - Avoidance (Xingqiu ver.)

Okay, so here's some quick announcements:

1: I accidentally deleted the chapters "Panic" and "Open Wounds and Flower Burns"

I'm pretty upset about it because I really liked those chapters and I don't have them written down anywhere else, so I may or may not rewrite them to the best of my abilities in the future.

2: I ended up writing two versions of this specific oneshot.

Essentially, the premise is where Xingqiu avoids Chongyun because he likes him and doesn't want to ruin their current relationship, and I wrote another version where Chongyun's the one that avoids Xingqiu instead.

I might publish the other one after this if I can find it (seeing as it's buried in one of the 400+ notes in my notes app) so yeah just a heads up if you enjoyed this one

Thanks for reading and enjoy :)

Chongyun wandered around Liyue Harbor in search of his best friend, continuing to come up empty handed at every turn.

"If he's not at Wanwen Bookhouse, then I'm going straight to his house." Chongyun muttered to himself as he scaled the stairs to Xingqiu's favorite location before furrowing his eyebrows and turning on his heel at the sight of no Xingqiu.

Chongyun hadn't seen or heard of his best friend in an unusual amount of time, and while he didn't miss some of his teasings, he definitely missed his company as a whole.

Chongyun had never been inside Xingqiu's house, but he often went with him to his residence after a long day of walking around Liyue, so knowing the location, he made his way to his doorstep and knocked.

A much taller boy with navy hair opened the door (who Chongyun had previously been introduced to and recognized as Xingqiu's older brother), and upon seeing Chongyun, asked why he was there.

"Can I please come in and see Xingqiu? I haven't seen him in weeks."

"Weeks? Did you two get into a fight?" His brother asked. He knew how often Xingqiu left to go see Chongyun, so it was unusual for his brother to not have seen him in so long.

"No, at least...I don't think so. I just want to talk to him and find out what's going on."

"Then by all means, go right ahead. His room is upstairs, first door on the left." He told him, opening the door for him.

"Thank you." Chongyun nodded to him, taking off his shoes and quickly heading upstairs and approaching Xingqiu's door.

Originally, he'd wanted to burst open the door and flood him with questions, but he quickly realized he needed to calm his constitution and think rationally.

Gently, he knocked on the door, and waited for a response with baited breath.

"Who is it?" Xingqiu called back in his usual, delicate, formal tone, and Chongyun's eyes lit up at his voice. He hadn't heard it in weeks, and as such didn't realize how much his ears missed it.

"It's Chongyun. Can I please come in?"

"..."

"...Xingqiu?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

Chongyun noticed the absence of 'my liege' at the end of the sentence and rested his hand on the doorknob. "Why not? I haven't seen you in weeks, and I'm worried that I made you upset or something."

"You didn't do anything, Chongyun. Actually, I'm the one who's done something."

"What did you do?" Chongyun asked him in a quieter voice.

There's silence on the other end before Xingqiu unlocked his bedroom door, and Chongyun took it as an invitation to come in.

Opening the door, Chongyun saw Xingqiu sitting on the edge of his bed staring at the floor, and not being able to contain his concern, he rushed over and hugged him tightly.

"Aren't you worried you'll overheat?" Xingqiu asked him warily, his hands hovering just above his back.

"You'd take care of me if I did."

They both knew he was right, and Xingqiu loosely hugged him back before Chongyun pulled away a bit to look at him with concern. "What's going on then if I haven't upset you?"

"I can't tell you. You wouldn't...you wouldn't like it." Xingqiu avoided looking at him.

"Even if I won't, maybe I could help you."

"There's no helping me or fixing this problem of mine, I'm afraid." Xingqiu said quietly.

What could be so bad that Xingqiu couldn't tell him was beyond him, but Chongyun refused to give up. He didn't want to lose his friend, and so he kept on persisting.

"I still want to know!" He yelled, feeling tears lace his eyes and Xingqiu looking at him in surprise. Rarely did he ever lash out or have big outbursts of emotion, and both of them knew that an overheating episode was just moments away if he didn't calm down now.

"Chongyun! You're going to-!"

"Overheat? I-I know, but I-" He stopped to take deep breaths. He knew if he ended up overheating, he wouldn't be able to get his point across.

"I've missed you while you were away. I always miss you when you're away." He admitted. "Every time you have to leave on a business trip or something, I miss you. But at least I know that you'll come back. After a week I just thought you were sick, but then two more weeks went by, and I just..."

He took a second to wipe his eyes and breath again. "I couldn't take it."

Xingqiu didn't say anything, and Chongyun hung his head with his hands still loosely around him.

"I like you."

Chongyun looked up to meet his eyes once more, the very last reason he expected Xingqiu to have been away.

"What?"

"That's why I avoided you. I didn't want to burden you with that knowledge, so I thought if I stayed away for a while it'd just..."

"...Go away?" Chongyun finished for him.

"Yeah."

Xingqiu snorted before breaking out into laughter for a bit when he too could feel tears in his eyes. "I like you so, so much." He laughed bitterly at himself. "Isn't that awful?"

Chongyun moved his hands from his waist to his face. "Why would that be awful?"

"Because I'm gay. That's not exactly something widely accepted. Not to mention, I don't even know if you're-"

Chongyun stops his words with his lips, giving him a quick kiss to calm his worries.

"It wouldn't be so awful if I liked you too, would it?" Chongyun asked him, pulling away just so he could talk.

Xingqiu laughed again and pulled him back. "I guess not."

Lost in their own world for moment, Chongyun's hands on his face and Xingqiu's in his hair and the back of his neck, the sudden creak of the door opening caused them to quickly jolt away from each other just in time.

"Sorry, it'd been a while since Chongyun came in, so I just wanted to make sure everything was okay." Xingqiu's brother said, coming into the room.

Xingqiu and Chongyun both looked at each other with a guilty smile.

"Everything's okay now." Xingqiu told him. "Everything is just fine."

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Written: Jan. 1st, 2023

Finished/Published: Apr. 24th, 2023

(Word Count: 1,198)