When Rose's Thorns Attack my Sides (But my Eyes Stay Trained on You) (Xingyun)

Ch. 4

"It's so hot..." Chongyun complains.

He's curled up in a ball on his bed, clutching his sides because his condition is causing every inch of his body to ache with pain.

He was already down to a pair of shorts and a tank top, and he didn't know how much longer he could stand the heat before he would break down.

Currently he had the fan blasting in his room and the windows wide open, as the blistering summer sun of Liyue had failed to disappear in 3 months time.

He hears his door creak open, but he's so uncomfortable that he doesn't bother to ask who it is, assuming it's his mother coming to check up on him again.

"Yun?" A small voice asks as the door shuts behind them.

"Yes Qiu?"

Xingqiu frowns at the nickname, but doesn't comment on it because of Chongyun's physical state.

"Are you sick? I was gonna hang out with you again today, but it looks like you're not feeling well..." He says, his hand on the doorknob.

"It's too hot out and my condition is hurting my body. I'm trying to rest to take it off my mind, but I can't sleep." He whines uncomfortably.

"That sound awful. Maybe I can help you though!" Xingqiu says determined.

He climbs up onto Chongyun's bed and leans against the bed rest beside Chongyun, who is still curled in a ball in pain.

"By doing what?" He asks tiredly.

"Reading you a bedtime story. When I can't sleep, my mom reads me one of my favorite stories to help me go to bed. Sometimes my older brother does too, but he's not as good at voices and tones." He tuts, opening his book.

"I didn't know you had siblings." Chongyun comments lightly.

"Just the one. He's a lot older than me though, over double my age. He's too serious a lot of the time too. I know he's next to inherit the Feiyun Commerse Guild, but really? He doesn't have to be so uptight all the time..."

"Having a siblings sounds like fun." Chongyun giggles quietly.

"Huh? How could having a sibling be fun? It's anything but if you ask me." Xingqiu pouts.

"Yeah, but at least you always have someone to hang out with at home. I'm an only child, so I don't have anyone like that." Chongyun sighs.

Xingqiu looks over at his friend, still curled into a ball but obviously loosened up. He flips to his first page and makes himself comfy against the pillows on Chongyun's bed.

"I guess I never thought of it that way. Even if he annoys me, he still reads to me when I ask him to. And he eats the carrots off my plate. But at least you have me to keep you company often." Xingqiu smiles, patting Chongyun softly on the head.

He starts reading his book while Chongyun continues to re-situate himself so he's more comfortable, eventually flipping over to face Xingqiu.

He rests his forehead against Xingqiu's lower side and softens at his touch, his eyes slowly closing as he drifts off to sleep.

As per usual, Xingqiu was too invested in his story to notice, and got over halfway before he decided to say something.

"And then they- oh, you're asleep already." Xingqiu looks down at the sleeping boy next to him.

He closes his book, tucking the pressed flower inside the page and sinking in his seat, closing his eyes and letting the warmth of the afternoon shine down on him while he falls asleep beside his best friend.

-

This kind of unusual hot weather persisted throughout the week.

Poor Chongyun was holed up inside his room the whole time, rarely leaving and being visited a few times a day by either a family or clan member or Xingqiu.

One of these days, Chongyun was miserably laying on his bed when Xingqiu came in with a bowl in his hands.

"I brought you some cold noodles! Your parents told me they were your favorite, so I thought I'd bring some over for you." Xingqiu smiles, handing the bowl over to him.

Chongyun sits up and reaches a hand out, pleasantly surprised by his friend's gift. "Oh, thank you Xi-"

The second his fingertips touched the bowl though, he noticed how hot it was, and he looks at him in shock. "It's hot!"

"Oh? Is it?" Xingqiu asks, quirking an eyebrows and re-examining the bowl for himself. "So it is. Allow me to go cool it down for you then. My apologies."

Xingqiu came back 5 minutes later with a cold bowl of noodles, which Chongyun ate slowly and thoughtfully while he listened to Xingqiu talk about his day.

When he finished, Xingqiu offered to read him to sleep again, even though he wasn't having as much trouble today with falling asleep.

While he was listening to Xingqiu read, he quickly fell asleep again, Xingqiu's calming voice in his head.

When he woke up later, he found that it was late in the afternoon and Xingqiu was fast asleep, leaning on his shoulder with his book open on his lap.

Chongyun leans over to put his book away when he sees another book that belonged to Xingqiu on his nightstand.

He took it without thinking much of it and opened it to the bookmarked page, his eyes softening as he read the pages.

August 14

Today I went to visit Chongyun again. It's been very hot lately, so we can't hang out outside right now. I brought him hot noodles on purpose to try and cheer him up with a joke, but I don't think it worked very well. He wasn't angry, but he didn't seem very happy, either. I know it's not just because of how he looks all the time because I've learned how to tell the difference between his emotions even if it's hard for other people to tell. I'd say that makes me pretty special! But I still wish everyone else could understand him the way I do.

Chongyun smiled at the poorly handwritten words, tracing his finger over them and getting grey smudges on his fingertips as a result. Although most couldn't read his handwriting, Chongyun had learned how to decipher most of it, to which Xingqiu was overjoyed that someone didn't make fun of it for once.

I brought him cold noodles instead and read to him for a while. I hope it's not so hot outside anymore so we can go to Wanwen Bookhouse together and get some new releases!

- Xingqiu

Chongyun didn't really know what it was, but if he had to guess, it was some kind of journal that Xingqiu wrote about his days in.

There were dozens of other entries before it and multiple blank pages ahead of it, but he decided not to read anymore so as to not invade his privacy.

If Xingqiu wanted him to read it, he would ask, and that was that.

Chongyun sets the two books on the nightstand and lays back down, comforted by the presence of his best friend beside him.

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Written: May 24th, 2023

Finished/Published: July 12th, 2023

(Word Count: 1,201)