a Lesson of Lumine

Chapter Sixteen: Easy as Pie...Kind of

Xiao got up and walked downstairs. "Mornin'" he grumbled.
"Good morning - I didn't wake you up, did I?" Childe chuckled, running his hands under cold water.
"I think you woke up the entire neighborhood. Want me to try?"
"Nah, I'm good. How'd you sleep?" He raised a brow and ended up getting a cup of coffee. Xiao was silent for a moment before he came with a response. "...Fine. You?"
"Pretty good. Do you want me to get you some food?"
"Don't flatter yourself," Xiao smiled before going to the pantry to get some cereal. The one good thing about the weekend was that you could always sleep in as late as you'd like. You could also do whatever you needed with the time. You were given everything for two days. Xiao ate his food and took care of his dishes. While he did so, Childe seemed to smirk. "One of your friends would like to meet you at the park later...and by later, I mean in like five minutes."
"...What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"You seemed to be enjoying your cereal! You best be going little man!" He laughed.
"...Watch yourself," Xiao grumbled and made his way outside and to the park. Whoever had wanted to meet him, he didn't care. What could he do about it? Worst case scenario, he would come home with a couple bruises.

He got to the park and appeared to be met by three people from his school. One had Silver-blue hair that was put into a high ponytail, the next had long brown hair with a red scarf in her hair, and the last one was someone who he already knew - his cousin Ganyu. "Xiao! There you are!" The girl with brown hair exclaimed, "I was about to go look for you!"
"...Which one of you came to my house?"
"Ayaka did - she knows a lot," Ganyu smiled.
"And...which one of you is Ayaka?" Xiao asked. He was more annoyed that scared.
"Oh! Right. That's Ayaka and that's Amber. We're all here on behalf of Lumine...Well, I'm just to make sure you don't go haywire," Ganyu gestured to the two other people who waved as they were introduced. They seemed to be polite, but Xiao wasn't having it. "Get on with it. Why are you three here?"
"For you and Lumine!~"
"...elaborate."
Ayaka took the stage and sighed. "We're here to give you the courage to finally ask Lumine out on a real date. We know that it may seem cliche, but you need to lighten up a little bit! If you don't get better at this, she'll lip away and You'll be left to regret everything! So...You're going to ask her on a date!" She exclaimed.
"and why are you going to do that?"
"Lumine always talks about you - she feels extremely nervous around you, gets nervous around you, and worries if she's going to make you upset. Hence, Lumine likes you," Amber winked, "So we're here to help you get the courage to ask her out!"
"Xiao...Just do your best. I know this may seem annoying, but I know what you're thinking...and I have some ideas."
"Oh? And what might that be?" He grumbled.
"You could ask her to the winter dance."
Xiao was silent and said sarcastically, "How about I ask her to the spring dance instead? All the pretty flowers will be sOoOoO romantic!"
"Yes! Perfect!" Ayaka smiled. Xiao just stared. He made a joke - he didn't want to ask Lumine to any of the dances. There were several more wonderful people that she could go with instead of him. How could she choose him over anyone else?
"How about you leave me alone and let me deal with his myself?"
"Xiao...Please just give this a chance. Let's start with baby steps...how about you ask her for coffee?" Ganyu's calm temperament was exactly what he needed to calm down. "...Fine. How do you expect me to do that?"
"Just ask. It wouldn't be for nothing. She wants to ask you out, believe me."
"What will it take for you to let me go home?" Xiao sighed.
"All you have to do is give us your word that you will ask out Lumine. Ganyu told us how you never break a promise, so that will be good," Ayaka smiled gently. Amber nodded in agreement. He put his head doing and thought for a moment. He wanted to, but at the same time...didn't. What more could he do?

Elsewhere, our beloved Lumine was taking care of her little sister. "Paimon quit squirming! You have to eat your vegetables!" She shouted.
"NO! Paimon wants to just eat GOOD food!"
"This is good food! It's not that hard, just try it! You'll try anything else you know."
"No no no! Paimon doesn't eat veggies!"
Aether, who was listening to music in his headphones walked over, grabbed the spoonful of broccoli, and shoved it in Paimons mouth. He silently walked back over to the cough and continued to do his own thing. It seemed to be a success until she spit out the food right on Lumine's shirt. "Ugh! You stinky little-" she began to shout but knew it wouldn't help anything. Out of defeat, it was time for the big guns. "Here comes the airplane!" Lumine made the spoon fly around and land into Paimons mouth. This time it was a success. Lumine sighed, cleaned up the plate, and went to her room to change. The string lights illuminated her way as she changed into a simple baggy t-shirt. As she did so, she stopped at her mirror. Lumine couldn't help but look at herself in the mirror. All these years, she wanted to be the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect sister. She had spent so much of her time on other people, she hadn't gotten the chance to take time for herself. Though through this sudden despair, she realized something. Lumine could just get out. It wasn't that hard. She didn't have to be the main character, or the meaning of r/Im14AndThisIsDeep. She looked in the mirror again and smiled. She knew what she wanted and what she had to do. No matter what anyone else would think, she was going to ask Xiao on a date...probably.

The rest of the day was uneventful for both of them. Lumine went to bed earlier while Xiao stayed up till four in the morning. He was drawing one moment and cleaning up the next. He only stopped when Zhongli stopped in and told him to get to bed. Anyhow, Xiao woke up the next morning to hearing a discussion brewing at the dinner table between Zhongli and Childe.

(I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't the best, writers block is spying on me. I apologize and I promise to make up for it! :) Stay safe out there and stay hydrated!)