Stars of the "fake sky" [ •Xiaother Oneshots• ]

"You- actually mean it?!" ☁️♦

Venti hummed as he doodled on a piece of paper during class, it was a boring class after all. Not much to do in history except listen to Mr. Zhongli talk about the Archon war, which he already knows what happened in it. The blue-eyed male turned to look at the ravenette, who was hastily writing something down.

Venti leaned over to sneak a peek at the piece of paper, his eyes reading over the words with a confused, turning mischievous expression. "Xiao~ whatcha writing there?" Venti snickered quietly.

"Nothing. It doesn't concern you, Venti." Xiao sighed, standing up with the peeling of the bell, which rang for a couple of seconds before quieting down. Xiao pushed his arms into the sleeves of his leather jacket, gathering together his stuff into his book bag before draping it over his shoulder and walking over to the door of the classroom to leave. "Oh come on!! Can't you tell me?" Venti whined, following after Xiao with a pouty expression on his face.

"No. You'll probably learn about it later, anyways."
"Ugh! But I don't want to wait until 'later'!" Venti groaned dramatically, causing Xiao to sigh at the annoyance.
"Then suffer." The ravenette spoke sharply.

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Not long later, Xiao was seen putting a small card into Aether's locker, he wasn't really trying to hide it because he already told Aether he would earlier in the day anyways. Seeing this, professor Zhongli decided to ask Xiao about it. "Xiao, what is it you are doing there?" The older man asked curiously, walking closer to the ravenette. "Oh, father, I'm putting an address in Aether's locker. He allowed me to." Xiao explained, looking up at his adoptive father. "I see, I hope you have fun with Aether, then." Zhongli chuckled as he strided away leisurely, probably to tell his husband what he's learned.

Xiao's affections aren't hard to spot so it's obvious that Xiao basically asked Aether out to a date. Though, the blonde most likely just mistook the invitation as a casual hangout. He's dense like that.

After his class finished, Aether went to his locker to grab his water bottle, finding the card next to the bottle. He smiled as he opened, already knowing it was from Xiao, like previously mentioned. He still failed to think about how this whole thing could be thought of as a date, but he doesn't need to know that until later. Aether took his phone out of his back pocket, unlocking it and opening Messenger to text Xiao that he'll be there.

Venti peeked over Xiao's shoulder, reading the text message before his eyes wandered to Aether's saved contact name. "Dude, you don't even have a contact name for Aether? This is your crush we're talking about here!!" Venti spoke, receiving an eyeroll from Xiao. "I don't need one set for him. There's no point." "Ugh - whatever, let's get you ready for your little date now!" Venti chirped happily as he dragged Xiao along with him. Obviously earning himself multiple complaints about the fact that the other male can walk by himself.

"Hu tao! Your services are needed!!" Venti called out as he entered Xiao's house with the ravenette following closely behind. "I don't believe I agreed to this." "Oh hush now sweetie, just let us help you!"

"Hehe, I believe that I was called for?~" Hu tao spoke, a playful smirk on her lips as her eyes shifted between Xiao and Venti.

"Yes. This guy got a date so we have to help him prepare!" "Ooh~ you finally got the courage to ask Aether?" Hu tao giggled mischievously as she pulled Xiao along to his room to pick out an outfit. "Yes. And I can walk by myself!" "Shut up!"

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The area that Xiao picked was nice. It's spacious, has nice lighting and atmosphere, and quiet. It's a good place to go to to just sit and read or hang out with friends or draw a nice picture. That sort of stuff, y'know? Which is why he picked it.

Xiao visited the area quite often so he was familiar with it.

The ravenette arrived first, about five minutes before Aether did, so he had a few minutes to mentally prepare himself. As the blonde arrived, he immediately called out to Xiao, running over to where the amber-eyed man was sitting. "Hey, Xiao!" Aether smiled gently, sitting next to the ravenette.

"Good evening, Aether." Xiao spoke calmly, his voice sounding almost dreamy but not quite. Aether nodded, his eyes drifting from Xiao's face to the sky. "Xiao, do you like stars?" The blonde asked while looking at the sky, which was filled with all kinds of stars; of all shapes and sizes. "I do." Xiao nodded, finding his gaze drifting off to where Aether was staring. It looked like a galaxy of sorts, the sky was filled with purples and blues and some greens, too. It was beautiful. Truly a night suited for what was about to happen.

"The moon looks lovely tonight." Xiao spoke, his voice softening. Aether tensed up, his eyes widening as he turned his head to look at Xiao. A reddish tint glazed his face. He couldn't bring himself to find the right words to respond except for: "What.. did you say?" His voice was almost sounding distraught, maybe not really believing Xiao's words. "I said, 'The moon looks lovely tonight.'" Xiao repeated himself, almost regretting his words.

Aether took Xiao's hand in his own, urging him again. "Say it again, please." Aether spoke, a hint of joy lacing his voice. "Why do you want me to say it again? Whatever. 'The moon looks lovely tonight,' doesn't it?"

"You- actually mean it?!" Aether said, a smile gracing his lips. ".. Yes, I do mean it." The ravenette confirmed with a small nod as well. The blonde laughed softly, unable to keep the smile off his face as he leaned forward to tightly hug the slightly shorter man, which earned him a small hug back.

"I love you, too."

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AN: this was literally sitting in my drafts for A WEEK like dude i need to start posting my drafts 😭😭

i use this trope too much, i need to find another phrase to replace "the moon looks lovely tonight, doesnt it?" bc this is like the 5th story w it

anywho, apologies for any typos and always remember to eat food, drink water and sleep! heres a xiao drawing i completed today!!