✔ choosing you - old ver.

choice ten

"merry christmas xiao!" childe said happily, holding out a small present to his "son". xiao stared blankly at the red head, trying to comprehend why he was up at 7 to be presented with a gift. 

zhongli was sitting on the couch, beside the christmas tree which was filled with gifts, most of them probably for zhongli (which where graciously given by his husband, childe) while the other half where split between childe's gifts and then xiao's. 

he had no siblings, so he got...special treatment from his parents.

 besides that, every christmas is usually the same.

 they open presents as a family, then they go and visit childe's family. we spend time there until about 4, then xiao has time to hangout with his friends until later. and that was the plan this time too.

so, for the beginning of the morning, childe spent leaning his head on zhongli watching xiao and zhongli open their presents.

"childe," xiao said running down the stairs with a box in his hand. "i didn't have time to wrap it." he said walking over to where the ginger was sitting. "but merry christmas." he said awkwardly, looking to the side.

xiao never considered childe his dad, but he was still family to him- even if he didn't like it at first. childe's face brightened as he took the box. 

"thank you!" he said happily, taking the top off the unwrapped box. he opened it to see a red scarf- similar to childe's old one. his older one had holes in it now, so xiao bought a new one for him. xiao looked at childe's face- and he stepped back. 

"childe what-?" childe held the scarf to his face and he laughed to himself. he looked up with a genuine smile. 

"thank you xiao."

+

"big brother!!" tuecer yelled, jumping up and down. childe smiled happily, picking up his little brother.

 "hey tuecer! how are you?" he asks, the little boy responding with a nod. 

"xiao," the boy looked over seeing zhongli behind him.

 "what's up?" he asked, zhongli setting his hand on the shorter boys shoulder. 

"i know socializing isn't your..thing.." he paused, trying to think of something to tell his son. "but at least try to say something.." xiao grumbled. 

"sure.." he muttered, waking away from zhongli. childe's family was big, so there was a lot of people. but none of them where xiao's age. they where all younger than him, so he never said much to them. he flipped onto the couch, and he pulled out his phone to see a couple messages from different people.

annoying braid: "HAPPY CHRISTMAS XIAOXIAO!!"
annoying braid: "wait no it's 'merry' not 'happy'"
annoying braid: "i have a gift for you!! when can you meet me??"
annoying braid: "maybe sometime this evening!"

funeral freak: "ITS CHRISTMAS XIOA!!!!!!!!!!!!"
funeral freak: "ganyu and i have presents for you so maybe at 7 we can all come together and"
funeral freak: "we can maybe hand out persentns if you ahve any!! see you later xiao i ahve to go eat HAVE A GOOD DAY!!"

"her typing mistakes.." xiao sighed, looking at what else he has.

sister ganyu: "merry christmas xiao. i have a present for you, so let's meet up today. have a good christmas and text me when you can meet me. :)"

xiao almost laughed at the messages he got- it was weird to have more than 2 people messaging him. 

"venti.." he thought, tapping on his profile on the messaging app. he tapped his name and paused for a moment.

annoying braid: "xiao, you read my message! atleast say hello to me >:("

xiao rolled his eyes, closing out of his profile and he started typing.

me: "what am i supposed to say?"

annoying braid: "you could say merry christmas back y'know!"

me: "merry christmas annoying braid."

annoying braid: ">:o EXCUSE ME???"

me: "oops."

annoying braid: "yeah yeah, whatever >:("

me: "no but really, merry christmas venti."

'seen by annoying braid'

xiao practically had question marks surrounding his head. venti never leaves him on read, so he was slightly confused on why he left him on seen. it was a little.. annoying maybe. xiao rolled his eyes, shutting off his phone. maybe he will start socializing.

venti's pov:

"venti big brother!" venti opened his eyes, rolling to his side to see his little sister klee. 

"klee...?" he said quietly, moving his hand to her head. he patted her head softly. 

 "hehe! it's christmas! merry christmas big brother!!" venti sat up, rubbing his eyes. 

"klee," venti looked at her. "how's your morning going? is it going well?" he smiled, klee nodding. 

"mommy says she wants you downstairs! she let you sleep in since you got back from daddy's very late last night." venti paused. 

"yeah- i did. give me a moment klee, you go downstairs and i'll be there soon!" klee nodded happily, running out of his room. venti's smile faded, as he touched his cheek. he grumbled as he retracted his hand quickly. he sighed, standing up and going to his bathroom. he looked in the mirror, seeing a scratch on his cheek. he looked around his counter, looking for a bandage. he smiled when he found one, immediately putting it on his face to cover the scratch. 

"did klee see that? or was she not paying attention.." he muttered, leaving the bathroom and looking for his phone. 

"xiao.. i wanted to tell xiao merry christmas." he said, his face softening at the thought of xiao. he paused, realizing what he thought about, first thing on christmas morning. xiao. venti sighed, still grabbing his phone and texting xiao.

me: "HAPPY CHRISTMAS XIAOXIAO!!"
me: "wait no it's 'merry' not 'happy'"

i mentally kicked myself for a stupid mistake that i just embarrassed myself with.

me: "i have a gift for you!! when can you meet me??"
me: "maybe sometime this evening!"

as i waited for him to respond, i slipped my phone in my pocket and i walked out of my room downstairs s to the living room.

i waved to my mom who was making breakfast, and klee who was sitting on albedo's lap and talking about the gifts she wants to open. 

"good morning ven," albedo said calmly, smiling at his younger brother. 

"morning!" venti said happily. 

"oh yeah venti, we're waiting until barbara gets here until we open presents. so it'll be about 30 minutes." jean smiled happily, venti smiling back and nodding. venti sat down on the couch opposite of klee and albedo, and he pulled out his phone again, seeing that xiao read his messages and was online.

me: "xiao, you read my message! at least say hello to me >:("

cute emo boy: "what am i supposed to say?"

me: "you could say merry christmas back y'know!"

cute emo boy: "merry christmas annoying braid."

he paused, my mouth wide open. "did he just call me annoying?" venti said slightly offended by his words.

me: ">:o EXCUSE ME???"

cute emo boy: "oops."

me: "yeah yeah, whatever >:("

cute emo boy: "no but really, merry christmas venti."

he stopped whatever he was going to say- everything in his head just disappeared. even if it was just on text, xiao saying his name just made his head flutter. what made it different? what was happening to him?

'i refuse to have any feelings towards the boy my brother fell in love with, so ignore this ven.'