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Xingqiu sighed for the millionth time today.
“What’s wrong with you? It’s valentine’s day and you’re sulking!” said Xiangling with crossed arms and a puzzled look on her face.
“I know that. It’s just, today’s just a bit more draining than usual,” he explained.
“But we literally had two periods off because Mr. Zhongli and Mr. Xiao both have to go on a date with their lover!” she retorted, not buying his answer.
“Ohh, that’s maybe because he’s waiting for a message from a significant friend~” a light teasing voice chimed in.
“But he doesn’t have that many friends considering how much time he spends in the library,” said Xiangling, even more confused now.
“You’re merely making up assumptions Hutao, I am not waiting to be confessed by anyone,” he said with an annoyed undertone.
“But you could be preparing a confession,” Hutao argues, “I know you have your eyes on Chongyun, I know a lovestruck face when I see one.”
“Wait, so the significant ‘friend’ is Chongyun? Oh my archons, are you confessing? Please tell me you are confessing so my number one ship can finally come true!” Xiangling exclaimed with both her fingers crossed. Hutao giggles whilst Xingqiu looks horrified.
“Since when did you start shipping people together?!” he spluttered, hoping his hair is covering the blush that rose up his neck and ears.
“Longer than you’d have ever thought! I am one of your childhood friends, I’m not that oblivious!” said Xiangling smuggingly.
“Oh my my, just looking at them pining over each other! It’s driving me insane!” Hutao added with her arms waving dramatically.
Xingqiu on the other hand, feels quite exposed.
Unfortunately, he admits that he has a crush on Chongyun for god knows how long, he knows what those butterflies fluttering in his stomach meant when he laid eyes upon his best friend, thanks to the amount of romance novels he read.
However, he made sure to horad and bury it deep into his heart. As much as he wished Chongyun could notice and even return his feelings, relationships are far too risky. People are attracted to each other by hormones, and as they wear away, so will the relationship. How would he know if their attraction is love, not hormones dissimulating over.
Hence, he must not risk their perfect friendship to be decimated.
“Even if I have impure wishes about my best friend, it has nothing to do with him. Please try to keep it to yourselves, not to ruin my most precious friendship with Yun-er.” Xingqiu smiled brightly, but not in a kind way, emphasising on the word “friend”.
Hutao and Xiangling only stared at him with their mouths open in shock, making him hesitate and a bit uncomfortable. But they ignored him and instead, they started eyeing each other in some unknown eye-language.
“You can’t be serious. How could he not know that-“
“Don’t spoil it Xiangling!!” Hutao clasped a hand on Xiangling’s mouth before she could finish her sentence.
Now Xingqiu is beyond confusion, even with a tint of excitement that he didn’t notice. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up. So he decided to withdraw from their conversation and leave the two girls to whatever they’re plotting.
Thus, he heads off towards the school theatre, where Chongyun and his band are practising as precautions for the drama club’s new play.
He pulled to a stop in front of the doorway, admiring the hyped music around him. Chongyun looks so engrossed in his part that he didn’t even notice Xingqiu, to be precise, no one did.
Xingyan and a ‘kid’ wearing a green hat that he didn’t recognise are swaying their heads back and forth while drumming their guitars with great passion. On the centre stage, Ayaka with a couple of the theatre kids are singing in perfect unison. Everything is connected in perfect harmony.
Clearly impressed, Xingqiu surreptitiously sneaked around to a seat in the front rows, where he noticed a guy across the room with white hair and a red highlight on his left scribbling something down onto his notebook.
The guy looks awfully familiar, yet he couldn’t put a finger on it, he’d definitely seen him a good few times in the library for sure.
Then he remembered, eyes widening, that guy was the senior who won the poems competition last year! Xingqiu was away at that time so he couldn’t get to know him, but he thinks his name is Kaedehara something.
Humming to the music, Xingqiu turned his attention back towards Chongyun.
Ah, dear Chongyun who’s iced faced on the outside but a cute radiator on the inside, dear Chongyun who never kept anything away from Xingqiu, always so honest and straightforward, dear Chongyun that understands Xingqiu without him needing to say a word, his dear Yun-er who pushed his hair back and now he looks awfully appealing to Xingqiu’s eyes that he’s staring, if not gawking.
He’s well aware that he’s blushing, especially when Chongyun looked up as the song finished, and was surprised by Xingqiu’s sudden appearance but quickly flashed a bright smile towards him, which only made him blush harder.
He cursed under his breath whilst applauding along with Kaedehara. The green hat ‘kid’ was bowing in a theatrical manner, sending flying kisses. Xingyan put an arm around him in an iron grip, suffocating the poor man, Chongyun snickered while Ayaka shook her head and announced a short break.
Xingqiu skipped to Chongyun’s side, strands of yale blue hair swinging from side to side, golden eyes glistening with delight.
“Chongyun! That was amazing!” He exclaimed, clasping his hands together with a broad smile.
“Thanks, at least the hard work seems to be paying off,” said Chongyun, but then pouted, “Although I did miss a lot of classes and I haven’t talked to you as much.”
Up close, Chongyun looks even hotter, or cuter. His now messy slick-backed hair contradicts with his icey features. Xingqiu just yearned to run his fingers through that silky hair, flattening it back to prevent his Yun-er from getting even more attractions. He mentally slapped himself for this.
“Aww you miss me? Don’t worry, the feeling’s mutual. It’s definitely worth the time, this play’s going to be a blast!” Xingqiu giggled.
Chongyun chuckled in response then asked, “Do you want to try this? The drum, I mean.”
“Really? Of course, I’d love to!” Xingqiu beamed, his cheeks were starting to hurt due an excessive amount of smiling. In his defence, it’s not his fault that he wants to shower his best friend with affection in every minute they spend together.
Chongyun took a chair from the back stage, then ushered Xingqiu to sit down beside him, Xingqiu gladly obliged.
“This is the bass drum,” Chongyun pointed to the big round drum on the ground with his feet, “That’s the snare drum and floor tom,” he pointed to the two drum on the either side of him, “Those are the high and mid tom drums,” he pointed to the two smaller drums father away of him, “And the rest are the cymbals,” he gave a quick tap on one with his drumsticks, making a ‘cling-crash’ sound.
“I know I know, it’s not my first day seeing drums,” Xingqiu chuckled, and Chongyun sighed.
“Give it a go then, show me what your drum observations can get you,” Chongyun grinned, leaning back on his chair. Xingqiu glared at him half-heartedly.
—--------
“Umm… what does the “x” sign mean?”
“It means it’s played on the cymbals,” answered Chongyun.
Xingqiu nods and taps the cymbal at his right, he knows Chongyun’s just teasing him, so he absolutely winged it, making a fool of himself.
As expected, Chongyun bursts into laughter at the uncoordinated sounds, which gained a light slap on the shoulder from Xingqiu.
“How could you! How can you be so cruel to humiliate your best friend in public! I thought you’re more than that!” Xingqiu wined, burying his face in his hands.
“It’s not my fault! You didn’t even try!” Chongyun argued, crossing his arms in an accusing way.
However, when Xingqiu still hasn’t looked up at him, he grows worried that he might’ve misjudged him.
“I mean, it makes sense that you couldn’t play because you have no experience, it’s completely normal that-“ he cuts himself off, wearing a disappointed look when Xingqiu starts snickering in his hand.
“Haha! Oh my archons! Sorry but I can’t!” Xingqiu wheezed, standing up slowly only to be dragged back to his seat by Chongyun.
The next thing he knows, cold fingers wrapped around his own, Xingqiu nearly jolted away at the touch. Chongyun abruptly entered his personal space, blue eyes peering fondly into his own, and he suddenly became extremely self-aware of their close proximity. Adrenaline pumping blood up to his cheeks, he prays his bangs is hiding them as he drilled a hole at the “x” sign on the music sheet.
“It’s alright, I’ll teach you,” he said, voice ghosting over Xingqiu’s ears, sending shivers down his spine, heart’s beating as if running a marathon. Since when did his Yun-er became so bold! He internally screamed.
Chongyun’s holding his hands so gently as if he’s holding glass, if you look close enough, you can see the faint blush emerging from his ear.
“First, we have the base drum, twice on the mid-tom, four on the snare quickly, then once on the high-tom…”
They slowly played through the first quarter of the piece, Chongyun’s presents cradling him, forcing him to melt into the touch. Xingqiu sighed contently, letting Chongyun take the lead.
He leaned his back onto Chongyun’s chest, biting his under lip as giddy thoughts blossomed in his mind.
Screw his insecurities! He’s too head-over-heels for his best friend to care. He thought.
“And finally, it’s the hit-hat,” said Chongyun, in an attempt to sound professional. Instead, Xingqiu chortles at his proud expression.
Unfortunately, their little bubble was interrupted by a whistle from a certain green-hat ‘kid’, and Chongyun shyly lets go of his hand.
For a split second, Xingqiu nearly wants to snap the person’s neck, internally cursing his whole family.
However, he soon realised that over half of the theatre have their attention on them, including Kaedehara, who’s now scribbling something again down his notebook while taking small glances at them.
Frankly, Xingqiu is never one to back away from the spotlight, nonetheless this is a different scenario. His normally composed and swiftly posture is now a flustered mess, fidgeting with the hem of his immaculate justaucorps-like coat.
Chongyun sent a half-glare at the culprit, “Venti, can I help you?”
Venti? He swore he heard the name before but he’s too flustered to comprehend.
With a call of resume form Ayaka, Xingqiu yanked himself up from his seat then frantically fumbled off the stage, “I’ll wait for you in the library!” He shouted over his shoulder, then bolted out of the theatre.
Chongyun chuckled softly in response. Eyes narrowing up, faint pink dusted across his cheeks.
Xingqiu has been reading the same page for the past twenty minutes, ten times per sentence. But he still can’t get that sickly sweet smile of Chongyun’s out of his head.
He knew well that Chongyun was only teasing him, but he couldn’t help but wonder, “What if he likes me back?” Thinking about his soft eyes and gentle touch, smooth voice with a fond undertone.
“Okay,” he said to himself. If Chongyun likes him back and confessed, he would accept with the utmost pleasure. However, he wouldn’t confess to his Yun-er, instead he would take those feelings to his grave.
Because, to nobody’s surprise, Xingqiu is a coward when it comes to love and relationships. In his humble opinion, they’re too irrational, too complicated that even his witty brain couldn’t figure out.
He groaned and threw an inner tantrum, hitting his head on his book.
Lisa, the librarian, smirked at the sight, and called out to him, “Sorry sweetie, the library will close early today.”
“W-what? Why?” Xingqiu asked, slowly gathering his things.
“Why of course, I have a date to attend to!” She replied merrily, applying some lipstick.
Xingqiu rolled his eyes mentally, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Umm… sorry, I came to get Xingqiu,” said Chongyun awkwardly.
“How sweet! The library’s just about to close anyway darling.” Lisa flashed them one of her signature seductive grins.
—————
“So, um…” said Xingqiu, trying to start a conversation, “Who’s that new kid with the green hat? Venti, is it?”
“Oh him? He’s the infamous music teacher who’s gone ‘missing’ for the past two years,” answered Chongyun, biting back a laugh.
“T-the what? That music teacher? What’s he doing in the band?” asked Xingqiu, shocked.
“Well, it’s not a school band and he said that he’s a quite experienced performer, in his words: “Spent a half of my life performing in a bar to pay off my debt to the owner! Which I still need about a couple thousand mora, but that's irrelevant!” Chongyun replied, and they both laughed hysterically.
“I need a quick run to the bathroom,” informed Xingqiu. Chongyun nods in affirmation.
—————
“Mr. Xiao!? I thought you’re out today,” exclaimed Xingqiu as he turned around the corner exiting the boys bathroom.
“I was,” replied Xiao, face as stoic as ever.
Xingqiu shuffled on his spot, he never quite liked nonchalant people (that does not include Chongyun since his best friend’s an angel), obviously because it’s awkward when you try to start a conversation with them.
“Why are you back on the school premises then…?” He asked, curiously.
“I’m waiting for someone,” replied Xiao, and he didn't say anything further, just staring into the void.
Xingqiu hastily moved away from Xiao. Vowing that he would never even think of trying to strike a conversation with an emotionless person ever again.
Speaking of waiting, he found Chongyun near the main staircase, face a bit flushed for some reason, but Xingqiu just shook it off.
“Let’s go,” said Xingqiu.
“Oh wait! Umm… I missed science today… Uh, so I was wondering can I borrow your notes?” said Chongyun, a little faster than normal.
“Sure? You should’ve said that earlier. It’s in my locker, let me go and grab it real quick,” Xingqiu informed whilst climbing up the stairs.
“I’ll go with you!” Said Chongyun, quickly catching up.
————
“Is it just science that you want? I have history and geography as well,” asked Xingqiu unlocking his locker.
“Just science is fine, I’d already gotten history and geography from Xiangling, thanks a lot though,” replied Chongyun, voice wavering if you paid close attention.
Xingqiu quirked an eyebrow but didn’t pry, maybe Chongyun is just tired from all the practising. He made a mental note to drag him to Wanmin restaurant for a treat later on.
Just when he opened his locker, something fell out.
Xingqiu picked it up, and stared in disbelief.
It’s a box of chocolate, a heart shaped box of his favourite chocolate with gold embroidery on the side, as well as a rose tucked in the ribbon.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” said a voice behind him.
Xingqiu froze at his spot, his head spinning. He can’t breathe as waves of emotions crash onto him. He doesn’t dare to hope, nevertheless his heart is thumping so loudly threatening to jump out of his throat.
He turned around.
And he sees eyes in the hues of a clear summer sky, icy locks glimmering under the soft dusk light, reflecting on the colours of those sunsettias outside, cherry cheeks daring him to pinch. He quivered at the thought, and his face is uncharacteristically red as those freshly picked apples.
The said person is standing tall, shoulders back, one arm extending, holding onto a pair of tickets.
“I heard that they made your favourite book series into a movie, and it’s released today for the Valentine’s Day rush,” Chongyun said, as a matter of factly.
Xingqiu knows that, of course he does, and he’d go today if not for the amount of couples that’s bound to show up, he’ll be very out of place then. But that’s not important, because Chongyun, his Yun-er, is holding two tickets that’s probably sold out last week, looking at him with hopeful, determined eyes.
“And going alone will probably be quite uncomfortable,” Chongyun continues.
‘He hasn't even read the book! Heck, he doesn’t even like to read!’ Cried Xingqiu in his mind. But he still knows his favourites, he always listens to his ramblings, always notices his insecurities.
Time slowed down around them, alone in the locker room. The rest of Xingqiu’s world stopped as his Yun-er took a deep breath, and softly spoke.
“So, I was wondering,”
Both not daring to break their eye contact, as if trying to reach into the other’s soul.
“Will you be my valentine?”
This is it, Xingqiu gave up as his mind exploded in glee, letting his emotions take control of him for the first time in many years.
He flings himself onto Chongyun, the latter quickly snaking an arm around his waist, holding him tightly against his chest.
He took the tickets from Chongyun’s hands, fingers brushing sending electric shots down his spine, both of them having a lovesick grin from ear to ear.
Xingqiu swears his Yun-er’s going to be the death of him.
“You bet,” he replies, out of breath.
Chongyun instantly leans in for a chaste kiss.