For you (Xiaother Winter Special)

Week 2

It was Tuesday, the worst day of the week and I'll tell you why. Wednesday, you're halfway through the week and that's enough to get you going. Thursday is close to Friday and Friday to Sunday are self-explanatory. Monday still isn't that great as you've just come from 2 days of rest, but you still have at least a little school spirit. By Tuesday though, all of the determination is gone. So yes, it was just Tuesday. A plain, boring Tuesday lunchtime with Aether and his friends in the cafeteria.

Hu Tao jumped up from her seat once she saw Aether and ran to hug him while squealing. "Aether! Hi!" She gave him a fat kiss on the cheek, bigger than he would've liked.

"Hi Tao," he chuckled awkwardly.

Everyone knew Hu Tao. Whether you'd joined the school 2 hours ago or been there longer than her, she was always there, lurking somewhere in the back of your head. She was quite a troublesome and cheeky girl, playing pranks on everyone and everything. Depending on your attitude, she could come up as either loud and annoying to you or bubbly and cheerful. She was simply just a girl living her life to the fullest, not caring for consequences and having fun! Death wasn't something she feared, it possibly could've played a part in such an attitude. And yes, her boyfriend is Aether, but we'll get into that later.

Eagerly, she held his hand and led him to the table where their group was- Childe, Venti, Ganyu. Yanfei and Scaramouche (Ganyu was asleep on the table and Yanfei was reading a book). They were all huddled around the table talking about whatever drama interested them. Breakups, relationships, fallouts, teachers, you name it. Nothing was too boring, and if it was, they'd find some way to make it into some twisted story. It's kinda messed up, to be honest, but it was unfortunately just popular people being popular. Currently, they seemed to be involved in an in-depth conversation about some new couple that finally got together after obviously liking each other for months. Scenarios like this happen all the time, 2 people who like each other just being oblivious to themselves all the time. It sounds stupid, but it's easy to say when you haven't experienced it. They both sat down.

"..yeah, it was his dia-oh, hi Aether!" Venti exclaimed to the blonde.

Venti was just..Venti. He wasn't too dissimilar to Hu Tao, being bubbly and fun. The boy with blue, braided hair that faded into teal wasn't as widely known as the others, but still to a good extent. He had a very clear love for alcohol. As soon as it was discovered in his parents' cupboard, the everlasting sensation never seemed to leave him. Always first to get drunk at parties. Always first to get drunk...well, anywhere really. It wasn't rare to find a bottle of red wine in his bag, in fact, teachers have confiscated things like this multiple times. He's broke though so everyone wonders how he even manages to get the money for things like that.

The blonde replied, "Hi! What're you guys talking about?"

"Apparently, Chongyun and Xingqiu finally got together after all these years."

Hu Tao butted in. "Yeah, apparently he had some sort of weird dream about Xingqiu. Won't tell me what it is though."

The brunette sighed heavily. "I tried threats, blackmail, a-

"Would you just shut up already? All of your voices are hurting my ears. Especially Venti." That was Scaramouche.

Originally known for his bad haircut, now he has hundreds of fangirls (and boys) scattered across the school who swoon over him. He generally hates everyone and everything that talks to him, so it's hard to see how everyone loves him. I just think all of them have a degradation kink. Anyways, he's just blunt and cold to everyone who even looks at him. There's nothing special about him except the fact that he's adopted. Nobody knows that his mother abandoned him at birth, except the teachers. They'd feel too bad if they told anyone so they baby him slightly.

"Uh, what did I do?" The alcoholic scoffed.

"Exist. Your voice is more than mildly irritating."

"Actually, my voice is beautiful and.." The two kept on going back and forth so the couple just ignored them.

"Hu Tao,"

"Ae? What's up, aside from those 2." She indicated to the ongoing argument about who's voice was prettier. Her boyfriend chuckled.

"Can we - should we stop dating?"

In all truth, he had liked Hu Tao. He'd loved her bubbly attitude, her endless teasing and her goofy self. But that aspect was slowly fading away. Don't get him wrong, he loved Hu Tao and all of those things, but only as best friends. It felt wrong to date her now. Besides, it was Hu Tao who'd suggested they should get together because they were the most popular people in school. They became the most popular couple when they did but they never actually did anything really romantic like go on dates or aggressively make out in the unisex bathrooms like most couples in Teyvat High did. It only seemed like the name 'boyfriend' was just a title. They still continued to act as best friends, just with a few kisses here and there to keep the crowd entertained. It was nothing serious. After a few months of dating, they'd only kissed with tongue 2 times and it didn't feel as magical as it should've been - that's if there was any magic at all. It began to feel like being her boyfriend was becoming a chore rather than wanting to.

Her facial expression changed and she seemed slightly hurt, but not to a great extent. "But why? We're the most popular couple in school. Is it because I'm not as popular as you? Or because I don't fit your standards?"

"I never said I wanted to break up, I asking if we should!"

"That's like, basically the same thing!"

She sighed for a minute, then spoke. "You don't really love me, do you?"

They were both silent.

"I used to! Okay, well, I thought it did but I really only see you as a best friend. I love you but not in that way."

"That would ruin our reputation if we broke up though. I mean, we could always fake it." For a girl who'd just been half-broken up with, she seemed way too cheerful. She still had that bright, amusing smile on her face which for a second, didn't make him feel so bad.

Yanfei lifted her head from her book, finally having enough of the petty argument between Scaramouche and Venti.

"Would you all just shut up? Poor Ganyu is sleeping and you guys just keep arguing! And I'm trying to study!"

Yanfei was one of the people that everyone liked, or at least respected. She had no dirt on her reputation and nobody could even find a reason to dislike her; perfect on the inside and out. She was nice to everyone, at least when they weren't doing anything unlawful or rule-breaking. It's not like she was a snitch. Yanfei and snitches are completely different. Every time she caught someone doing something wrong, they'd always be met with a scolding but after that, she'd mind her own business. She wasn't the type of person to tell a teacher or something. This was a dislikable aspect for some people but she always lent a helping hand to anyone who was struggling so nobody had anything to say against her.

Scaramouche smirked. "I. Don't. Care."

"Neither did your mother!" Venti snapped back. "Oops.."

Nobody was supposed to know about the Scaramouche thing. Nobody does know. Well, at least no human on Teyvat knows. Maybe I forgot to mention this but, Scaramouche wasn't born human. His mother, an archon, abandoned him as a puppet and his adopted mother, also an archon, made him human. All the archons' identities stay a secret. Could it possibly be that Venti is...? Never mind, it's ridiculous.

His smile dropped.

"You weren't supposed to - how do you - what?"

"I don't know anything. Goodbye." As if instructed, the bell rang for class and everyone rose up unwilling.

Aether looked around the huge room, searching for Xiao. It became his daily routine to lead him to the next class and nobody noticed. However, today, he seemed to have already left. Great. Not only had he forgotten to eat lunch with him, but now he was probably avoiding him. Fine, he hadn't made a lot of progress from week 1. So what? There was always week 3.