This Side of Paradise (Aeventi) (finished)

15 - "where were you?"

3rd person omniscient

By the time Xiao got back to the dorms, it was almost noon.

The first thing he did was enter his and Xingqiu's dorm and plug his phone in. Xingqiu gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything.

Xiao laid in his bed to warm up while waiting for his phone to turn on. The second that it did, he was flooded with notifications.

Multiple missed calls and texts from Venti, Aether, Hu Tao, and Zhongli.

He went through all the messages- laughing at a few of them- and replied saying that he was okay and in his dorm. He then took the note out of his pocket, typing the number into his phone before sending a quick text.

I made it to my dorm. Your name at the bottom of the paper was too messy to read, so would you mind telling it to me again?

He didn't immediately get a response, but the note did say that whoever this person was had a job, so Xiao couldn't be upset about it.

Not even five minutes later, there was knocking on Xiao's door, which Xingqiu answered before silently leaving.

Venti, Hu Tao, Zhongli, and Aether were at the door.

Venti ran through and smacked his best friend on the head, scolding him for worrying him.

"Yeah, yeah," Xiao shrugged off the scolding, promising Venti that he won't do it again.

Ganyu, one of Xiao's best friends, arrived a little bit later than everyone else, she had just woken up.

"So where were you last night Xiao?" Ganyu asked, wiping the last bit of tiredness from her eyes, "Keqing and I were worried sick about you."

"I ended up being taken to someone's dorm. They just let me sleep, nothing happened, and left me a note in the morning with water and aspirin," Xiao explained.

"Do you still have the note?" Hu Tao asked nosily.

Xiao lied and said that he threw it away on his way to his dorm.

"Do you even know the name of this person?" Zhongli asked Xiao cautiously.

"About that...they wrote it on the note, but it was blurry and hard to read, but their number was there so I texted and asked." Xiao explained.

(a/n i hope you know that i wrote this at 4 am when insomnia was hitting hard)

"I see. You must tell me the moment you find out who it is." Xiao nodded at his father's demand.

"Heyyy! You gotta tell me too!" Hu Tao shouted, and everyone else in the room started talking about how they wanted to know this mystery person.

"I'll make sure to tell all of you the second I find out." Xiao promises.

Everyone was satisfied with Xiao's answer.

"I appreciate that you all came to see me, but I'd prefer to deal with this headache from last night alone." Xiao said.

Ganyu was the first to leave, wishing her best friend a swift recovery.

Next was Zhongli and Hu Tao leaving, threatening to send Xiao to hell and back if he ever worried them that much again.

All that was left were Aether and Venti. Venti wasn't sure if he wanted to leave yet, and Aether (despite not being close with Xiao) stayed behind to make sure Venti wouldn't go apeshit on him.