When He Calls My Name

26

"Ah—damn...what happened..."

Xiao blinks into consciousness. His eyes dart around for sight before focusing on me. We are just outside of the party, close enough to see it in the distance and hear the pulsations of music, but far enough where I don't have to yell to speak clearly. My knees are in the sand as Xiao's head lays in my lap. I caress it gently, playing in his hair.

"Hey sleepy head," I say with a soft smile, though the concern on my face is evident.

Xiao slowly gets up, groaning a bit and turning to face me. "Did...someone knock me out?" he asks.

"Don't worry about that." I wave it off quickly. "Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?"

Xiao slaps my fingers out of his face and folds his arms. "I'm fine."

"What was all that back there?" I say, crossing my own arms, to which the man across from me flashes a grim look my way.

"What do you mean?" he says, "that man was touching you."

"He's just an old friend. No need to worry."

"Oh, right," he says. "An old friend who's all over you and trying to kiss you. I've been on this world for many years, Aether. I may be new to this love thing, but I'm no idiot."

"I didn't say you were," I say. "But you really have to learn how to chill sometimes. It's... sort of embarrassing when you attack my friends for just being close to me. I want them to like you, Xiao, but you're making it hard."

"How the hell do you expect me to react when a guy is being sexual with you?!" he shouts, punching the sand below. "And then he disrespects me? Am I supposed to be okay with that, Aether?! Am I supposed to sit back and let someone touch my boyfriend like that and stomp on my name!"

"I get it!" I shout back. "In this case, I understand, he was being much. But there are other ways to handle things, Xiao. I just want you to try and think about your surroundings before you just jump into action. You're a protector, I know, but sometimes you just have to ask people questions, like what they meant by that or something, instead of immediately trying to kill them if you deem them a threat. Please, I want you to live a normal life with me. That's what normal people do—they read the room before attacking. And before you say I'm not a human therefore I can't live a normal life, you're human enough, to me. You deserve to live a happy life. And I'm sorry for my past and the people in it that maybe saw something with me that I didn't, but that doesn't matter anymore, okay? I love you, Xiao. I need you to understand that. To remember that. Can you do that for me?"

He purses his lips, searching my eyes before looking down at his hands like a scolded child. Finally, he sighs.

"Yes," he says softly. "I will do it for you, Aether. Because I love you too. I'm...sorry."

I smile, taking his hands in mine and pulling them to my lips. "I know it's difficult, the feeling that someone finally cares so much about you, so you're very afraid to lose them. Love makes people do crazy things. I get that, Xiao. Just trust that I will be by your side until I die. No one can take me from you."

"Okay," he whispers, though I'm not sure he meant to. He pulls himself closer to me, and our eyes close as Xiao's soft, yet passionate kisses cover my lips. His hands move from my hands to my waist, and I wrap mine around his neck. "I love you, Aether," he says as he gently pulls away.

"I love you, Xiao." I boop his nose, and it makes him smile, just a little.

We sit there holding each other until my phone vibrates. I dig into my pocket and view the screen: a text.

Itto: Yoo, so I talked to the venue people and you guys are cool to be here. Heizou was totally wasted, so they blamed the fight on him and kicked him out. So you're totally in the clear! Please come back man. I didn't invite you just for you to stay for only like an hour

I look up at Xiao. "Itto wants us to come back to the party," I say.

He frowns. "I'm sorry Aether, but I really do not want to go back in there."

"Heizou left—the guy you fought," I say. "He was really drunk, like I said, and was kicked out. I know it's probably not your favorite thing right now—partying, but Itto invited me here. We traveled all this way, the least we could do is actually be at the party with him."

Xiao takes a deep breath, eyes closed, chest tight, then let's it out slowly. "Fine," he says. "If that will make you happy, I'll do it."

I smile, stealing a kiss. "Thank you baby. I promise, no more parties for a long time after this, okay?"

"Thank Morax."

I laugh harder than I should at that, then jump to my feet and offer a hand to Xiao.
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TO BE CONTINUED