Rose Colored Boy~ (A Xiaoven Fanfic)

Chapter Two <3

It had all started mid high school.

Venti had been doing his regular flute practice with his eyes closed on the roof of the school. When he was finally done, he turned around, only to see the class emo weirdo staring at him with tears in his eyes and streaming down his cheeks, smudging red and black eyeliner all over his face, and goddamn he had no business looking that gorgeous while crying.

When he noticed that Venti had noticed him, he turned around and ran as fast as he could, ignoring when he asked if he was okay. By the time Venti had managed to get up and run over to the stairs, he was long gone.

The next day, he found out that the boy was named Xiao, and he was part of a branch of Zhongli (Back then, Morax)'s gang, called the Adepti. Apparently they were even into the band gig themselves, even if they weren't exactly very good at it. It only took a little bit of virtual stalking for Venti to discover that though Xiao could absolutely shred a bass guitar, it's best when he keeps his mouth shut and doesn't attempt to interfere with vocals.

And then Venti collected himself and realized what he was doing, immediately logging off and screaming into a pillow until Zhongli ran into his room and threw a batter covered spatula at him.

Ever since then, whenever he saw Xiao, he ran. It didn't matter if he was in the middle of class or buying gum at the convenience store. The second he caught sight of those gorgeous, intense honey colored eyes, almost always framed with red eyeliner that complemented them to the point they made Venti weak in the knees, he ran.

It wasn't that he was scared of him, per say, if anything, Xiao was the one afraid of Venti. The only reason he ran is because he has never been particularly good with the guys in the first place. Not the ones he had any feelings towards, at least. When it came to the bar and mindless hookups? Those were his gig. Kaeya used to joke about how easy it would be for him to just land some hot Sugar Daddy like Zhongli did, but the idea didn't really appeal to Venti.

Okay fine, it did, but he may or may not have been avoiding the idea of any relationship. He figured he'd work on resolving his own commitment issues first, and then scheme how to seduce Xiao into both falling hopelessly in love with him and also wanting to fuck him so hard it breaks the bed.

Ooh, that wasn't a good thought to have while hidden behind a tree in public. Venti willed his dick to calm down.

When he peered behind the tree again and saw that Xiao was gone, he crawled out of his hiding space and ran back home as fast as possible to avoid any more possible contact.

He burst into the apartment out of breath.

"Zhongli! You'll never guess who I-"

He froze. Zhongli looked amused.

"Hello Venti. This is one of my old gang members, Xiao. Have you met before?"

Xiao seemed carefully passive, not even turning around from the cup of coffee he was stirring, but Venti saw the tips of his ears flash a bright, gaudy pink, and something about it was so endearing he couldn't stand it.

"Shit he's cute," He whispered under his breath. Xiao whipped his head around and stared at Venti. Dully, he noticed that his cheeks were bright pink too.

"Hi, I'm Venti, nice to meet you!" He said, pouring all the charisma he could muster into the smile he flashed at him, looking straight into the eyes of the man who was only about two inches shorter.  Internally, he cussed himself out for choosing such a lame introduction.

"Hello." he said, voice cool and collected but face flushed bright red. Venti couldn't help but smile fondly as he strode forward to shake Xiao's hand, making sure he could feel the firmness in his hands. They weren't soft, but what could you expect from a man who wields almost all instruments and is known for his archery skills? That was his whole entire old gang career, for god's sake.

Xiao's expression was hard as stone. If it wasn't for how bright red he was from the tips of his ears to the parts of his collar bones that were visible under his plain black shirt, Venti would think that he didn't like him. He looked Xiao dead in the eyes, refusing to break eye contact until Xiao shimmied away from it and took back his hand.

He smiled fondly.

So much for avoiding Xiao.