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

Ch. 16

Xingqiu woke up early the next morning, his vision hazy as he started to gain consciousness. Chongyun was still holding onto him while he was sleeping, and Xingqiu fought back the blush that was creeping up on his face.

"I just woke up! How am I already flustered over him?!"

He pushes himself up, gently taking his arms off of him, to which the latter whines in dissatisfaction.

"Sorry Yun, but I need to get back to my house before anyone in my house finds out I'm gone." Xingqiu explains to him.

He ruffles his hair before going out to find his clothes, which by then he finally realized that oh shit, I never put those up or dry.

His clothes were still a heap on the bathroom floor, much too damp for him to wear out. He panics, looking down at the clothes he was currently wearing and deciding that he would not be able to wear those either. His parents would freak if they saw it.

He quickly heads back into Chongyun's room and rocks him gently, causing him to open an eye and look at him curiously under his sleepy fatigue.

"Mmmyeah?" He asks.

"Would you mind if I borrowed a pair of your clothes? Like, the ones you wear everyday?" Xingqiu asks nervously.

Chongyun's cheeks tint pink although it's hard to see it in the dark. "Are your clothes still wet? Sure, let me go get them."

He slowly crawls out of bed and grabs Xingqiu a familiar pair of pants, a hoodie, and a black undershirt.

"Since you're just going back to your house I figured you wouldn't need the rest of it." He yawns, sitting up on his bed.

Xingqiu thanks him and goes to change into it quickly, adjusting it in the bathroom mirror before burying his head in his hands and pulling on his hair.

"I'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfine!" He tells himself while his face betray his words.

His cheeks are increasingly getting hotter the longer he stares at himself in the mirror, and he quickly nods adieu to Chongyun and rushes out to avoid making a fool of himself any longer.

Reality had finally come back to him, and he knew that he needed to get rid of this feeling entirely. He had a mission to find his 'true love' before his 17th birthday, and he was loosing time!

As quietly as he can, he pushes open the door to his house and shuts it behind him his eyes darting around for any sight of his family members.

When he doesn't immediately see anyone, he relaxes a bit, but that's before his older brother makes himself known.

"Xingqiu?"

He walks out of the kitchen and into the entryway, looking at his younger brother with immense confusion.

"Where were you? And...where are your normal clothes? Whose are those?"

"Oh, these? They're a friend's. My clothes got dirty from commissions yesterday so they let me borrow them. And I stayed over because we got back late." He smiles, hoping he buys his lie.

"You didn't tell anyone you were going out for commissions. And I thought father said you couldn't go out last night." He says slowly before realization dawns on his face. "Wait a minute, you snuck out, didn't you?"

Xingqiu smiles to try and take the blame off of himself, continuing to try and hide his lie. "Of course not. I told mother I was leaving. I didn't know father said I couldn't."

"So if I go ask her right now, she'll say you told her?"

"It's far too early to bother her with such questions, let's just leave her be for now." He shoos the thought away as if it were simply ridiculous.

His brother narrows his gaze at him, and Xingqiu dreads what he's going to say next. "I know when you're lying Xingqiu, you learned it from me. And I know you weren't out doing commissions yesterday. You went to Wangshu Inn."

He doesn't let his facial expressions show it, but inside he struggles to breath and his heart plummets. He instinctively feels for the tassel at his side, and his breath hitches when he remembers it's not on him right now.

"I don't know who you were with, but I had to pass through to get back from delivering supplies to Qingce Village. Your clothes are 'dirty' because you were out dancing in the rain with whoever that was."

He raises an eyebrow in curiosity, an idea forming. "Were they your girlfriend?"

"Of course not!" Xingqiu defends himself before wishing he'd never opened his mouth.

"Great! Might as well come out while I'm at it!"

"I mean, no, he isn't my girlfriend. I was just supposed to meet my friend for dinner, but it was raining, so he waited out in the rain for me."

With every word coming out of his mouth he dug himself a deeper hole, and for the cherry on top, he disclosed that his friend was probably a boy.

His brother goes quiet before laying out his suspicions. "So you went dancing with your friend in the rain, stayed over at his house, and borrowed his clothes?"

"Geez, well when you put it that way..." he thinks.

His brother looks at him blankly before he goes, "Xingqiu, are you gay?"

Xingqiu immediately wants to go back up to his room and throw on any other pair of clothes. Chongyun's were making him blush like mad and felt like his skin was on fire. At this point, he wants a hole to appear in the floor and swallow him so he doesn't have to be in this conversation anymore.

Uncertainly, he tries to defend himself, but he's done this song and dance so many times it's not even worth half believing. "Me?...N-no, I'm-"

His brother cuts him off quickly by doing the very last thing Xingqiu would ever expect him to do.

He hugs him.

His brother never hugged him.

"If you don't want to tell me it's fine. I know that I can be pretty harsh on you sometimes, but I just don't want you getting in trouble with father, and I bet this isn't something exactly easy to tell him. I'll keep it a secret until you tell me otherwise."

He pulls away and gives Xingqiu a rare smile, patting him on the head. "Just know you have an ally in this house. And at least I don't have to worry about that curse if you've got a boyfriend."

His brother waves him goodbye before going upstairs to his room, leaving Xingqiu confused and overwhelmed just a few steps into his home.

This was an outcome he never could have expected...but he felt more comfortable now that someone knew a bit more of what he was dealing with.

While he wandered up to his room and laid in bed, he wondered if maybe Chongyun himself would be as supportive too.

He sighs and turns off his bedside light to try and get a few more hours of sleep in.

"I sure hope so..."

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Written: June 10th, 2023

Finished/Published: July 24th, 2023

(Word Count: 1,195)