1 Year (Xiaoven Highschool AU)

Your number please?

The next day Xiao came to school like usual. After putting his bag on the side of his desk, he sat down with a long sigh. "What's up?" Aether asked without making eye contact since he's too absorbed in the book he's reading. Lumine who sits Infront of Aether turns back, "you didn't know? He gave Venti flowers yesterday but it turns out it's the wrong kind!" She whispers to her dear brother.

Aether eyes widened, "ouch dude that's embarrassing" he teased. Xiao, who was slumped on his desk, shot straight up, "Your mouth has no filter at all!"
The twin laughs at his reaction and decides it's time to be a good friend and give him advice, even if both of them haven't been in a single relationship. Each of them moves their chair closer to Xiao, "you need to woo him," Lumine starts the counseling session with a sentence that doesn't make any sense. "Flirt with him, give him cheesy pick up lines,'' Aether says with a straight face.

"Like our senior, Childe. He's been repeating the same grade for about 5 years now so he's starting to flirt with the teacher that's close to his age!" Lumine forgets the original purpose of the conversation and just starts gossiping about school drama. That sentence caught Xiao's attention, "5 years? Is he that stupid??"

Aether snorted at the answer but continued reading his book, "Nah his grade is fine but every year during the final exam he'll get into a huge gang fight and skip the exam. The guys he beat up was sent to the hospital for weeks too! And because he didn't attend the final exam plus injuring people, he needs to repeat the year.." Lumine added.

"Ah so he's a battle maniac.." Although Xiao knows how to fight a little, he's not someone to go around beating people up especially when there's an important exam.

"Surprisingly he's really nice to the junior, he basically treats every student as his little sibling…" Aether spoke up, can't let his sister tell only the bad part of a story. Lumine was about to continue gossiping but unfortunately the teacher arrived and everyone was forced to go back to their seats.

.

The lunch bell rings and Xiao gets up from his seat. He told the twin to eat first without him since he's going to peep the third year class. It's not something he planned but after lumine gossip he's itching to see what kind of person this 'Childe' is. He peek inside the class, it's obvious to notice which is Childe since there's only one person who looks like a full grown adult. He's a ginger with blue eyes, probably a social butterfly too cause there's a lot of his classmates gathered around his table. It's pretty funny actually to see someone with that kind of body build wearing a highschool uniform.

Enough about Childe, Xiao eyes wander around the class to see if Venti is there but he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he's already at the cafeteria where the twins are, so Xiao quickly made his way there.

As he's walking down the hallway, a sound of flute catches his attention. It's coming from the music room. He's dying from curiosity and decides to peek and see who's playing it. He opens the door slowly and looks inside, to his surprise it was none other than Venti playing the flute.

Venti is sitting on a chair while crossing his leg, his eyes are closed and his fingers play the flute ever so gently. The melody felt familiar to Xiao despite it being the first time he heard it. In the midst of being mesmerized by the music, the door opens wide revealing Xiao.

The sound of the door opening interrupts Venti and he stops playing to see who it is. At that moment something clicked inside of him. He hasn't known Xiao for long but he could swear this exact situation happened before. Xiao listening to him playing the flute and being completely mesmerized by it, it has happened before. But when?

Xiao realized that he's been discovered, "Sorry, it sounds beautiful.." Xiao stares at Venti. Again, Venti felt like he heard that before. Sure he gets many compliments about his talent of being able to adapt to any musical instruments but this felt different. It's as if it's been thousands of years since he heard it, it's so overwhelming he can cry.

"Venti?" Xiao asked again since Venti didn't show a response. That snapped Venti back to reality, "Ah. Is that so? Thank you~" he's back to his usual personality. "I never knew you could play the flute," Xiao enters the room and takes a seat beside Venti. It's quite bold but he thought it's a perfect time to make a move.

"I can play all the instruments if I practice. '' Venti smiles, he's aware of how nervous Xiao is when he makes his way to sit beside him, 'cute' he thought but Venti quickly dismissed the idea. "That's so cool.." Xiao's eyes shine, now he knows why Venti is so popular in this school. Someone like his could be considered a musical genius.

"I mean, everything you do is cool cause you're cool! No- more the cool you're like.. beautiful- I mean! Wait I do mean you're beautiful but-" Xiao struggles with his words as his face heats up from embarrassment. Venti burst into laughter, he never would have thought that a guy that looks like him would ever stumble on his word saying something as cheesy as this. Venti can't deny it, it's adorable seeing the difference in Xiao's appearance and the way he acts around him.

Meanwhile Xiao is confused why Venti is suddenly laughing, "I'm not joking, you're seriously beautiful" he says with a straight face. Venti stopped laughing. He takes back everything he said, saying something so bold like that out of nowhere is bad for his heart! Venti covers his face with one hand hoping that Xiao doesn't notice his ear going red. "I forgot you like me.." he mumbles.

An idea popped into Xiao's head, it's quite a big step but at this point nothing can be more extreme then confessing on the first day you meet right? "Then I'll remind you!" He said.
"I'll send you morning and goodnight texts so that you'll remember I like you everyday" Xiao slide his hand into a his pocket,
"So will you give me your number..?" The last line was delivered more nervously as he took out his phone from his pocket and handed it to Venti.

"Smooth~" Venti teased. He already expected Xiao to ask for his number one day so he is ready for the situation. But wanting to send morning and goodnight wishes everyday? Now that's determination. Venti take Xiao phone and enters his number, but when it's time to enter what he'll save the number Venti put 'The bard🌼'

"The bard?" Xiao peek at what Venti is writing. Truth be told Venti doesn't know why he wrote that either, it just…feels right? It's as if that's been his nickname for years.

"I just think it fits" Venti gave an excuse and returned Xiao's phone. Seeing Venti's number on his phone makes him smile a bit,"Thanks."
That smile struck Venti's heart and he rushed out of the room.

That smile was dangerous. He would have fallen head over heels by now if his heart wasn't any tougher. But for the sake of playing the game he suggested, he'll act tough for now.