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

Chapter 8 | Childe's Annoyingly Smart!

Xiao pov:
On the walk home my heart's racing, my face feels hot.

Aether kissed me.

It was only on the cheek though. But still.

Aether KISSED me!

As I walk through the door and down the hall, I see Childe lying on the couch, asleep, while Zhongli was walking in the kitchen, he seemed to be in a cheerful mood.
"Xiao!" Zhongli turns and smiles.
"Z-Zhongli." I murmur, staring out the window behind him.
"You're face is very red, what happened?" Zhongli's brow furrowed.
"Wh- How- It's Aether." I gulp.
"What did he do?" Zhongli frowned curiously.
"He kissed me on the cheek." I blurted.

"HE KISSED YOU!?" (😨)

I whip around to see Childe suddenly sitting up, looking at me with wide, excited eyes.
"I-" I press my lips into a thin line.
"Childe, don't eavesdrop on conversations!" Zhongli puts his hands on his hips.
"Sorry- but you NEED to confess to him soon then! Why would your crush randomly kiss you on the cheek!?" Childe goes to stand up, but as he does he groans before sitting back down.
"Childe, you need to relax." Zhongli closed his eyes and shook his head, Childe pouted.
Ew. I roll my eyes, knowing what they meant.

"Ok, so." Childe sat cross legged infront of me, grinning.
"If you can get as close as possible with Aether, then maybe you can confess! The signs you probably like eachother are... 1. You almost kissed on the lips. 2. He kissed your cheek. 3. YOU SLEPT WITH EACHOTHER. HOW MUCH GAYER CAN THAT GET?"
I wince as he throws his arms into the air.

All evening Childe blabbered about ways I can confess, that's when he had the Idea of me confessing at the upcoming lantern rite festival down at the Harbor.

—

5 unread messages.

Aether:
[ Xiao? ]
[Xiao are u dead ;-; ]
[Xiao, dude.]
[yk what]
[I give up]

—

Oops.

—

Xiao:
[Sorry Childe was blabbering to me about random stuff.]

Aether:
[Lol]
[Wanna FaceTime? :D ]

Xiao:
[K]

—

I nervously hover my finger over the answer FaceTime button, I click it quickly and drop my phone so it faces the ceiling. When I look at the call, Aether's screen is spinning.
"What are you-"
"WEEEEEE!"
Is he on a office chair?
A chuckle as he sets his phone down and tries to stand up, he wobbles on the spot before flopping on his bed with a grunt.
His head pops up to look at me, a wild grin on his face as he laughs, sitting up to grab his phone.
He holds his phone above his head as he stretches, the way his eyes squinted closed was quite cute.
"So." Aether started. "How is Zhongli and Childe?"
"Ugh, Zhongli's fine, but Childe can't walk if you know what i mean."
"Oh." Aether scrunched his nose up. "Ew."
"Exactly" I exhale dramatically.
"Anyway~ Lumi wants to know if you're going to latern rite!" Aether smiled.
"Oh- well I was thinking of going with Childe and Zhongli again this year, but I suppose if you want you can come too, don't worry, I can make sure Childe isn't nagging us." I suggested.
Aether's eyes widened. "Like us-alone?"
"Uhm- I guess?" I shrug nervously.
"Well of course I'll come! Seeing the kites will be so fun!" Aether blinked thoughtfully.
"Aether~! Dinners ready!" Lumine's voice called for Aether.
"Oh. I got to go now." Aether frowned.
Disappointed, I agree before he hangs up, I sit on my bed, staring at the wall. I have 2 weeks, and then either my life gets better or worse. 2 weeks until I confess to Aether. I sigh as I stand up and head to the shower to wash up.
As I stand in the shower, I recall something Lumine told me at the beach while Aether went to the bathroom.

"So. You and Aether." Lumine started.
"Uhm." I stiffened.
"Ha! Don't think I don't notice the way you look at him." Lumine shrugged.
"Okay fine. But don't say anything to him!" I cross my arms.
"Yeah yeah, I'll get something out of my brother eventually, but I won't say if he likes you or not. It'll ruin the fun if you confess." She winked.
"Alright, thanks I guess." I clench my teeth and look off into the curling waves.

In that time she texted me 3 messages.

—

Lumine:
[Okay Xiao, I got something out of Aether.]

Xiao:
[You did?]

Lumine:
[Ya]

Xiao:
[we'll tell me.]

Lumine:
[Okay. 1st thing he said when I asked; 'What do you think of Xiao?' He responded; 'he's cool! I can tell he is quite lonely, I'm pretty sure he has a bunch of liyuan friends like Hu Tao, Yanfei, Xingqiu and Chongyun, does he not?" And he looked pretty disappointed, I guess that's something, he also told me his crush.]

Xiao:
[Who?]

Lumine:
[He's trusted me with that secret, not saying.]

—

Maybe it wasn't me. I frown sadly and I wrap my towel around my waist and walk down the hall, I freeze as I hear Zhongli say my name down stairs.
"Xiao and Aether are close, aren't they?" Zhongli hummed.
"Yeah, I'm happy they were paired up, they're like Sun and moon!" Childe laughed.
"Yeah, I really hope Xiao does confess. Aether would be a good influence, especially after what he has been through." Zhongli sighed.
"Hm. Aether has mentioned Xiao a couple times."
"Oh? And what did he say?" Zhongli gasped.
There was a low whisper from Childe I couldn't hear, Zhongli gasped before chuckling lightly.
"Oh my!" He exhaled.
What in celestia are they talking about? I hope it's not bad. I pressed my lips together before walking back to my room and getting into my pyjamas.
As I lay in my bed I scroll through the messages me and Aether sent to eachother in the past week. A sudden wash of nervousness comes over me. Worst he can say is no, right? I gulp before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

[Word count: 1000]
A/N: listen to I wanna be yours by Arctic Monkeyslike I did while reading this. OML SO NICE <3 Also I'm holding off the confession until the next few chapters sorryyyy, but it'll be very nice the next few chapters, anyway tysm to anyone reading this bc I never thought people would actually read this so TYSM!

Also I though this photo was SO CUTEE!
(Might include a chapter where the two babysit Yaoyao and Qiqi AGHHH *cutness overload*
-From Butters who has a garunteed 50/50 win!!