"Whenever I'm with you" - Xiao x Aether || GENSHIN IMPACT

Chapter 16

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Xiao's home
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Aether's POV

The elevator ride felt like ages. I was deep in thought of what could've happened between my two friends while me and Venti were just simply having fun...

The ride suddenly came to an end, which made me flinch a bit. I've been in such deep thought this whole time.
The door opened signaling me to go out, which I did. I went to my right, straight towards Xiao's door.

I stood infront of the wooden door which led me to Xiao's home. I reached my hand out to knock, taking a deep breath before I did. After when a few seconds have passed, the door slowly creaked open.

Xiao nervously stuck his head out of the gap he just made, looking directly into my eyes. I felt my face flushing.

"Hey, Xiao. It's good to see you here." I spoke up, being the first to break the silence. He opened the door widely open, signing me to come in.

We sat down on his couch. I felt bad about not being able to say something, it's been silent for a while. I noticed that Xiao hasn't spoke since I came here. I got a bit uneasy sensing that something bad really did happen back then.

I glanced over at him, trying to read his facial expressions. He kept looking down which made it a bit hard for me to see his face. But he looked a bit... upset.

I felt like I had to break the silence once again. I couldn't bare seeing my friends sad without knowing what's going on. I took a quick breath.

I tried to catch his attention. "Hey... Xiao." I muttered out. He slowly turned towards me, still giving his sad, neutral face.

I scratched the back of my head.
"I noticed that you were upset about something... wanna talk about it?"
I asked in a gentle tone. His eyes widened, unsure of what to do.

"Isn't that why you invited me here?" I began questioning him again. He slowly shrugged. I scooted closer to him and took his hand between both of mine. "Hey, Xiao. You can always come to me if there's something bothering you. Please, never forget this. Mkay?" I tried reassuring him.

His eyes started to look red and puffy, ready to break. I let go of his hand and held out both of my arms, signaling him that I wanted to give him a hug.

His face turned bright pink. He mumbled something too silent for me to hear, before quickly embracing me and burried his face into my shoulder.

Xiao's POV

He held out both of his arms to me, signaling he wanted to give me a hug. I understood what he meant, but I couldn't help but blush hard. I clicked my tongue.

"Thank you..." I muttered out, attempting to thank him, but the words faded away as I succumbed into his warm arms. His gentle, soft arms.

My eyes started burning like before. I tightened my grip and I started sobbing in our hug. I don't know what came into me, but I just did. I didn't even care to control myself. I just needed someone to hold me like this.

I felt light pats on my back which slightly made me calm down. I still didn't show any sign of wanting the hug to end. I kept him tightly near me.

It was unbearable silent for some time. All you could hear were my sniffles and sobs, but Aether interrupted it by slowly asking a question.

"So... you want to talk to me about it?" He started. I hesitantly pulled away and looked down, having trouble making eye contact. I thought about the answer to his question.

I suddenly felt light pats on my head. "Don't worry, we'll do something else if you don't want to." He reassured me. This made me look up into his soft gaze.

"N-no... I do want to talk... about it, actually..." I muttered out between some sobs. I made a long sigh. "I'm all ears." He said happily, which made me want to smile. I quickly lowered my face in embarrassment, though.

"It's about Childe, actually." I mumbled. Aether nodded. His expressions turning serious, like he was expecting this.

"Back in high school, I had this friend. We didn't really talk too much together, but he was the type of friend I could always turn to when there was something troubling me. I really saw him as an older brother..."

"He was friends with Childe aswell. But Childe was the main reason I didn't hang out with him too much. Always when we did, he would come after me, telling me that I should fuck off and stop coming between them."

"He'd always tell me I'm just trying to ruin his friendship with him. And- you know, one day my friend heard about this and started to have a serious argument with him. This made Childe... like, really furious-"

A loud sob escaped my mouth. I covered my it with both of my hands. It backfired and the tears came and came. Aether slowly grabbed my hands off of my mouth and brushed off my tears eith his thumb.

I felt embarrassed, so I looked down and tried to removed his hands from my face. He noticed this, and made a comment.

"Ah- I'm sorry. I shouldn't be touching your face like that without your consent..." he forced a light chuckle but his expressions soon turned into a frown. I felt guilty about this, but I couldn't say anything back.

Not knowing what to do while still uncontrollably tearing up, I grabbed his hand and placed it on my cheek.

He flinched and his face immediately turned bright red. I noticed what I did but I was too anxious to remove his hand. Panicking, I held his arm with my free hand and tightened the grip.

The other boy smiled at himself at this and started caressing my cheek. This made me tear up more. I didn't deserve him. No one does. No one ever will.

"Want to keep going?" He asked me silently. I nodded, wanting to open up to him. To just anyone.

"He started b-blaming me that h-his relationship with him turned out like it was. He told me it's m-my fault people kept leaving me." I looked Aether straight in the eyes.

"Just like you... I was very happy we exchanged phone numbers that day, that you were willing to help me out." I paused for a bit, trying to catch my breath. I noticed Aether now looking down. Like something just struck him.

I attempted to open my mouth again, before realising I was about to say something awkward and embarrassing. And now thinking about it, I looked at Aether again. And my whole face immediately flushed.

I looked away, feeling awfully stupid and idiotic. But without my permission, my mouth began opening itself.

"Y-you-"

"I...I Lo-"

My whole body froze.

Aether seemed to have noticed this and started panicking.

"X-xiao?! Did you choke on your own tears??" He wiped off my remaining tears and started shaking me lightly, which made me even more red.

"Earth to Xiaooo~" He chirped, changing his tone to attempt to get me back to normal. After a while, he gave up and decided to give me some time.

He let go of me completely. "Are you done venting? You can keep going if you want to." He suggested. All I did is nod while hiding my head in my hoodie cap. Not wanting him to see my face in its current state.

I heard him chuckle. "Want me to make you something? Like a hot drink?" He asked me like a mom taking care of her child. This made me even more shit.

I stood up and rushed to my room. Just wanting to disappear. I closed the door behind me, just hearing Aether yell back at me that he's going to make hot chocolate.

I collapsed on my bed, thinking about the thing I was about to tell him. I took my pillow and attempted to scream in it, but even the smallest sound couldn't even leave my mouth.

I waved my feet up in the air like a teenage girl fangirling about her new crush. In which case...

'I was about to tell him my crush on him back then!!!!'

I rolled back and forth, shaking. Because at that moment, I realised I still seemed to love him.

My life can't be any worse.