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

Ch. 19

Chongyun quickly came to realize that it would not be okay. Because only recently had he started to learn he craved more physical contact, and especially so from Xingqiu.

If he was gone for two weeks, he couldn't imagine what it would be like if Xingqiu was asleep for longer than that.

He shook the thought out of his head and headed to Xingqiu's place, waiting on the far side of his house like he had requested while the sun was peeking over the tall buildings of Liyue Harbor.

"Good to see you so-oomph!"

Xingqiu was quickly embraced in a hug by Chongyun, holding his tightly and grabbing the fabric of his overcoat.

"Xingqiu, I think..." he says quietly. Xingqiu listened intently to what he was going to say, and he melted at his words when he does.

"I'm not ready for you to leave. I know that's weird, since you have to go do things all the time, but ever since I started being able to hug you and stuff, I-"

He chokes on his words and holds him even tighter, to which Xingqiu pats him on the back to comfort him. He slips his fingers into his hair and sifts through it, causing that butterfly-like feeling to rise in Chongyun's chest.

"Oh my exorcist, I'll be back very soon. But to make it seem a little less arduous-"

He gently slips away and holds out a pen, flicking the cap off. "What if I wrote you some little notes?"

"What do you mean?"

Xingqiu asks him to hold his arm out, and when he does he removes his glove and starts to write things down all along his skin.

The pen tip feels funny against his arm, but Xingqiu delicately holding his arm makes him feel like his skin is burning hot.

He wishes he had a popsicle to cool it down, even if he didn't know why being so close to him made him feel all prickly.

"There! You can read these after I've gone, okay?" Xingqiu looks up at him, his face pink in the dark.

"Why are you blushing?" Chongyun asks, completely ignoring his previous question.

"H-huh? I'm not." He smiles uncertainly, although Chongyun can't tell.

"You are. Are you feeling well? You blush a lot actually." Chongyun says, cradling Xingqiu's cheek to inspect it.

"I am very healthy and in good spirits, yes, now can you please-"

"I don't know Xingqiu, this has been going on for a long time now." Chongyun says with concern, getting closer to him. "Are you going to be okay for your trip?"

"I-I'll be just fine, don't worry-"

"What's going on then?" Chongyun pushes, unknowingly being persistent while he gets closer and closer to Xingqiu.

"I-I'm just thinking about someone, okay?!" Xingqiu says loudly, moving away from him.

He doesn't notice it at first, but Chongyun eventually moves away and tries to hide the hurt look on his face. "Oh. I didn't realize you already..."

He pulls his glove back on and feels his eyes getting watery. What was going on? He should be happy Xingqiu finally found someone that could wake him up!

...

But there was still a part of him that always liked the thought of him being the one to wake him up. Why couldn't the cure be something best friend related? He could wake Xingqiu up in a heartbeat!

The thought of someone else's lips touching Xingqiu's made him feel almost nauseous and uncomfortable, and it didn't sit quite right with him. Why was he feeling this way?

"So who is it?" He asks quietly while he ignores the disappointment in his voice.

"Who is who?" Xingqiu asks.

"The person you like. That's what you meant, right? That's why you were blushing."

"O-oh, that. It's a secret for now."

"A secret from me?" Chongyun thinks. "But I'm your best friend! I thought we could tell each other anything...!"

"Oh...okay." Chongyun sighs.

"Don't feel too down. I promise I'll tell you eventually. It's just another one of those things that's really hard to talk about." He reassures him.

They both sit in an awkward silence for a minute before Xingqiu holds his arms back out to him. "Did you want another hug before I have to go?"

With his feelings all jumbled up and causing the heat in his body to rise, he gives Xingqiu another emotional hug leaning up on his tiptoes and squeezing his eyes shut.

Xingqiu quickly said his goodbyes before heading off, leaving Chongyun hurt and confused why he felt this way.

"There's no reason to worry now. Xingqiu's safe." He says to himself on the way home.

"So why do I still feel this way?"

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Written: June 10th, 2023

Finished/Published: July 27th, 2023

(Word Count: 804)