[^] Another side to you [^] Xiaother Highschool AU [^]

| Chapter 5 | A sleepover |

Aether:
I lay in my bed, my eyes flutter open as I shift. I'm sitting in a grassy field, the grass looks pink at its tips. It sways so majestically, like an eagle in the sky, or a horse on its paddock.
"Aether." A dry voice rasps in my ears.
"Xiao?" I call.
"I am here."
Xiao appears beside me, his face is calm and straight.
"Xiao! Hi! Sorry about Paimon earlier, she can be annoying." I sigh.
"Okay. I don't care too much." Xiao mutters.
"What?" I furrow my brow. "Is something wrong?"
"Goodbye, Aether."
And then it fades to black.

I jolt awake and sit up, gasping for breath. Sweat dots my forehead, my sheets are kicked off the end of my bed, I check my phone, which is at %38, still charging.
Why does this happen? It's so random? And why was Xiao being so... Cold? I lay back down, snapping out of my thoughts when I hear a gentle knock on my door.
"Come in." I murmur. It's Paimon.
She has tears dotting her eyes, I sit up yet again, and this time, I get out of bed and walk over to her.
"Paimon, what's wrong?" I ask softly.
She sniffles. "I-I had a dream where you were laying on the ground covered in blood!" Paimon then wailed.
"Shhh... I'm here. I'm okay, come, sleep with me." I stroke my fingers through her hair.
"R-really?" She wipes the tears off her face with the back of her hand.
"Of course." I lay the sheet over us and wrap my arms around the small girl, who snuggles into me.
Take that, Lumine. I snort in my mind.

The morning sunshine filters into my room, I wake up first, I look over at my sister, Paimon, and she's fast asleep, her hands curling the blankets into her jaw.
I try my best to be sneaky, which I'm pretty good at to start with, so I'm fine.
I walk out into the kitchen to see Lumine with a pan in one hand, cracking and egg in the other.
"Goodmorning." I yawn, stretching my arms up.
"Morning! If you want eggs, make them yourself, oh- and brush your hair, it's all messy." Lumine snorts.
Did my hair tie fall out? How annoying. I let out a quiet grumble as I feel my hair is lose and splayed across my back.
I plop onto the couch and open my phone to see 1 text from Xiao.

—

Xiao!:
[Good Morning.]
Sent: 6:30AM

Aether:
[Its a little early to text me, dont you think?]
Sent: 9:42AM

Xiao!:
[Sorry.]

Aether:
[Allgood! Anyway, I just wanted to know if you want to come over for the night tomorrow? You can use my bed, (I secretly enjoy the blow up Matresses) :D]

Xiao!:
[Oh, Really? That would be okay?]
[Let me ask dad rq.]
...
[He said yes.]

Aether:
[Yipee! We can make food, we can go on walks, we can even play board games, but not with my youngest sister, or maybe not even my sisters at all ^^]

Xiao!:
[That would be nice.]

—

I feel myself smiling like crazy.
"OoOo~ Is Xiao coming over? Will I need noise cancelling headphones?" Lumine snorts as she looks over my shoulder, I grab one of her bangs and tugs it as she yelps before running away.
So annoying. She assumed we would... Keep your thoughts to yourself, Aether, you can do that in the classroom when you're bored, not now.

The day passed Slowly, Aether's excitement was only shown when he was looking at his phone.
Xiao is coming over in... 10 MINUTES?! I should get ready to look at least nice for a guest.
Is it up and walk into the bathroom, the door opens and Lumine strides in before forcing me into a seat and experimenting with my hair like a mad doctor. (A/N: LIKE DOTTORE 😟) After I shouted at Lumine multiple times she gave way to letting me do my classic braid.

14 Minutes later, a knock sounded at our door, I went and opened it, and there stood Xiao. He was wearing a tight black turtleneck with an unzipped hoodie and white cargo pants.
"Hi! Come in, don't mind Lumine's mess." I grit my teeth. Why didn't Lumine clean up?
I give Xiao a quick guide and tell him the house rules, not even a minute after Paimon came flying down the hall.
"Hey! It's the smiley friend! Who... doesn't look so smiley... I'm gonna go back to playing with my dolls, eheh..." Paimon quickly turned around and flew down the hall at the same speed she came after she saw Xiao's frown.
"I already have the mattress ready, don't be scared to make yourself at home!" I smile, Xiao simply nods.
"Are you sure I should sleep on your bed?" Xiao asks nervously.
"Oh, don't worry, I like the mattress, remember?" I smile before putting the blankets and pillows I grabbed from the cupboard onto the mattress.

Me and Xiao played some board games, Lumine invited Ayaka, Ayato and thoma over and we all circled up in her room.
"Ok, let's play truth or dare!" Ayaka clapped in delight, Lumine smiled, Ayato and thoma sighed, Xiao didn't care and Imrolled my eyes.
"Ok, I'll start! Ayato, truth or dare!" Ayaka smiled
"Truth" Ayato smiled back.
"have you found anyone you're... Interested, in?" Ayaka smirked and Ayato tensed up, his gaze slowly turned to thoma, then flicked back in a second.
"Uhm." Ayato cleared his throat. "I would rather not discuss it... here." Ayaka sighed when he said that.
"Anyway, Aether, truth or dare." Ayato gestured to me.
"Oh! Dare!" I giggled. (Kinda fruity but okay, get it ig aether.)

"I dare you to... hm..." Ayato looked at the floor in thought, thoma leaned over and whispered to him.
"Ah! I dare you to name the prettiest person in the room."
"O-oh! Okay..." My eyes scan the room and land on Xiao. They all get the message and Xiao blushes before looking away and I laugh.
The game goes on and on for hours until Ayato and Thoma finally get Ayaka to stop talking to Lumine.
"You seem to be quite protective of your sister." Xiao suddenly speaks, he only said very little during the game.
He only ever said Truth, Dare, Ok. And whatever else was in the simple section of the dictionary.

I quickly get into my pj's in my bedroom while Xiao gets changed in the bathroom. When he knocks, I let him enter, because I finished getting the hair the out of my braid by that time.
"You take your hair out when you sleep?" Xiao ponders.
"Yeah, It hurts the back on my head otherwise." I shrug.
As I stroke my fingers through my loose hair, Xiao asks a question that I didn't expect coming.
"Can I play with your hair?"
"O-oh! Y-yes! Sure, Of course." I stumble, suprised by the sudden question.
Xiao sits at the end of my bed and gestures to the place in between his legs.

Xiao POV: 🥳
As I run my fingers through Aether hair the first time, I feel him shudder at the sensation, his hair is the most beautiful, silky, golden, soft hair I had ever seen. I gently grab his hair and put it all together to form a messy ponytail, holding it together in my hands, I try all sorts of styles, and they all look so cute, but eventually we had to go to sleep, when I laid under his covers, my nose filled with his scent.
I can't believe I'm sleeping in his bed, only thing I'm missing is him. I bury my face in my pillow I brought from home to hide me smile as I close my eyes and drift off into a blissful sleep.

[A/N]:
Hey guys! This chapter is rushed, I haven't proof read it, it's 1:48AM in my Timezone (AEST) so i am super tired, Mother Nature is lashing me (if yk yk.) so I'm sorry for any inconveniences and also from February 1st* i will be posting only between 4:00pm-8:30pm AEST time (1:00AM-5:30AM EST and 6:00Am-10:30Am GMT) if ur Timezone isn't there you might to search in up, also sorry for not posting for a couple days!
*School starts, sadly.