The Boy With the Flute [Xiaoven]

2. Eyes of an Angel.

The next day at homeroom was like usual; boring. Mr. Kaeya just let us work on missing assignments and that's it. It was one of the only times I wanted work to do because I'd at least have something to do.

I rested my head on my desk and closed my eyes. Maybe if I just thought about nothing and ignore everyone else around me, the class will end sooner. At least, It'll feel like it would end sooner.

And that's exactly what I attempted to do. I thought of nothing, all my mind conjured up was a black screen. It was like a box or a chest full of absolutely nothing inside it. No treasures, no unique trinkets, an absolute void of just dust.

"Hello..? Hellooo? Anyone in there? Hey, hey, I'm speaking to you! Wake up!" I hear from my relaxation. Whoever was speaking to me completely broke my train of thought.

"Ughh.. what do you want?" I grumble, annoyance coming into my tone of speech.

"Oh, were you asleep? Sorry... I just wanted to get your attention!" I heard the person speaking to me apologize. I rub my eyes and peek at who in the world was speaking to me. And there he was, the boy I kept thinking about the past couple of weeks. It felt like a dream. Well, could it? Maybe, or I might be slowly going insane.

"..It's okay." That was all I could conjure up at the moment. I felt my face turn a light shade of red from my complete awkwardness and inability to keep a conversation going.

But, the boy didn't seem to notice my awkwardness. He only just smiled and giggled.

"I'm Venti! Venti the bard, as my friends call me! Well, I guess you can say, old friends. What about you?" The boy, or as I should call, Venti said to me.

"I'm Xiao," I said, blandly. I was never a fan of introducing myself to others, so I always made mine bland, and straight to the point.

"Xiao.. that's a pretty name! Nice to meet you, Xiao!" Venti answered back, giving a cheerful and melodic smile.

Now that I was able to see him up close, I could see some things he was wearing that I couldn't notice before.

I could see now that his necklace had a little wing symbol on it, like the anemo vision symbol we were taught about in my history class, also known as Ms. Ningguang's class. He had ruffles on his sleeves, which looked like something royalty but still suited him in a weird but charming way. The last thing I noticed was that he had a little pin on the left side of his collared shirt. It was the MLM flag, I didn't expect to see him wearing a pride pin at school, but it also made me glad I wasn't the only member of the community at this school, other than my small friend group.

"I like your pride pin," I said, a little quietly. I was a little shy about what he was going to respond with.

"Aw, thank you! I wanted to find other people in the community, so I decided to wear my pin to school!" He says confidently and proudly, putting a hand on his hip. I could admire how open and free he was about his identity, unlike me.

"Well, I guess you already found someone. I'm bisexual." I manage to say. A large grin appeared on his face and a small glimmer in his eyes shun.

"Really? That's great! Eheh!" He cheered. I never saw someone this happy, let alone about me. The happiest someone has been about me was when I showed my Pa and Da my straight A's last year. My Pa said he was going to buy me something big and expensive, but my Da told him that he shouldn't spend a lot of money at one moment. My Da never even carries around a wallet or knows how to work a cash register, so he really can't be talking.

"Well, my whole friend group is gay, so.." I say back.

"Ooo! What are their names?" Venti asked eagerly.

"Hu Tao, Chongyun, and Xingqiu. Chongyun and Xingqiu have been dating for about eight months now if I'm remembering correctly." I said. It was true; those two were total lovebirds. Always sitting together at a separate lunch table just to flirt and be around only each other. I could tell they were the right match for each other. I was extremely happy for both of them, though.

"I think Xingqiu's in my science class.. he's the kid with navy blue hair, right?" Venti asked. I simply only nodded. "Ah, then it is him! Do you mind if I sit with you guys at lunch tomorrow?"

"Sure, I don't mind. My friends would like another person at their lunch table anyways." I answered, slightly smiling. Why am I smiling at a stranger? I usually never smile, since smiling was never really my thing, why am I only doing it to him?

"Yay! It was a real bummer having to sit by myself at lunch." Venti giggled. Then, Venti turned around and got back to his work. Today was going to be such a long day...