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❝And so I'm a million miles away
But that won't stop me from sayin'
I know you, I know you, I know you by heart. ❞
[sisterless]: xiao xiao look :)!! it’s you!!!! {attachment}
[morpheus]: oh? it’s just a cat tho
[sisterless]: yea the cat looks like u, it’s all grumpy n stuff hehe
[sisterless]: u do see the resemblance right??
[morpheus]: yeah i sorta do :P
[morpheus]: this one looks like u too {attachment}
[sisterless]: that’s a picture of a cat crying
[morpheus]: exactly lol
[sisterless]: very funny pfft
Aether chuckled at that. Aether checked the time. ‘9 PM..’ He noted. He should get to bed, besides it’s probably like.. 4 AM for Xiao anyway and he needs to sleep. He remembers Xiao yelling at him via text once for being awake past 10 PM. “It’s not good for your health, or skin.” He remembers him saying.
Aether had first met Xiao in a Valorant match. The two had managed to get along well and contacted each other through discord, which they used to keep in touch ever since. Throughout the 3 years that they’ve known each other, they’ve become close friends. In fact, Aether would even go as far as to say that Xiao is his closest friend. Close enough to the point where Aether had stopped calling Xiao by his online alias, ‘Morpheus’ after the other boy revealed to him his real name.
[sisterless]: i should go to bed i have morning classes tomorrow
[morpheus]: okay have sweet dreams ae :)
The blond got up from his seat, closed his laptop and flopped onto his bed, hugging the animal plushie his sister got for him for his birthday. “Ughhh.. My back hurts.” He whined before blushing. He always gets like this after Xiao ends up sending him something cute saying said cute thing reminds him of Aether.
I mean, to be fair. Who wouldn’t!?
When someone as attractive as Xiao (Yes, they’ve facetimed before- and whew, Aether could feel butterflies moving around in his stomach whenever he saw Xiao’s face on a video call) says you look like a cute cat how- how could you NOT!?
Aether closed his eyes, a content smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep.
❝We can build mountains leading to the sky
Discover things both you and I
have never seen
We’ll tell the story of us.
Oh… ❞
Aether sighed, finally finishing his essay on music theory. The blonde looked over to the corner of his screen. “12 AM.. Fuck.” Aether sighed, worried about the fact that if he logs onto Discord now Xiao’s probably going to see him go online and berate him for being awake
Aether sighed before going on Discord anyway. He can already envision the notification he’d get, signalling that Xiao had noticed the blond was awake at 12 AM and ready to force the guy to go to bed.
Instead of a message, Xiao had asked if they could get into a voice call, which Aether obviously agreed to. “Hey.” He hears Xiao’s voice over the screen. “Sup…”
“So, mind explaining why you’re awake?” Xiao’s voice continued, though it was less angry and more playful. “Assignment need finishing. Just finished.” Aether explained, cracking his knuckles after a good hour or so of writing. “Yikes. Essays are the worst.”
“Eh, there’s worse.” Aether shrugged. “Soooo, mind spilling the tea?” “On what?” Xiao chuckled, making the butterflies in Aether’s stomach go crazy all over again. “Anything! Like, how’s your progress at school doing? What about your friends, did they do any more wacky shenanigans?” Aether asked.
“Mm, not really. There’s a couple funny things that happened I guess, but not anything noteworthy, no.” Xiao answered. “But my grades are getting better. I’m on my way to class right now, so I’ll end the call here. You better go to bed.”
“’kay.. Oh, by the way. Xiao, there’s one more thing I need to mention.”
“Hm?”
❝Good morning, Morpheus. ❞
The only response he got was a chuckle before Xiao’s voice sounded through the screen again. “And good night to you, Aether.”
❝And one day,
One day,
Forever after will begin.
And one day,
One day,
I’ll finally get to hold your hand.❞
“Aether.”
“Hm?” It was another one of their late-night phone calls. “Do you think we’ll get to meet one day?” Xiao asked. “What kind of sentimental thoughts are circling inside of your head right now..” Aether chuckled, “Of course. It’d be sad if we didn’t, no? You could visit Mondstadt, or if you want I could be the one visiting you, in Liyue.”
There was moments of silence before a chuckle. “You’re right. If you do visit Liyue, I’ll show you around. Y’know, Hu Tao’s been dying to meet you in person. She ‘wants to see if I’m good enough for you’ or something.”
“If you’re good enough for me?” Aether smiled, holding back a chuckle. “Yeah, makes no sense if you ask me considering that you and I aren’t even a couple.”
Aether deflated at that. His smile became a slight frown, “…Right…”
“Ae?” Xiao’s concerned voice popped in after silence. “Hm?”
“You know… Ugh, how do I say this- I’ve completely lost the moment, fuck- wait a minute.” There was rustling and noises of what Aether thinks is probably Xiao clearing his throat before the video call screen showed up. Aether clicked the green button.
“Nyello?” Aether smiled, “Why did you call?”
Xiao cleared his throat again, and if Aether hadn’t known better he’d think Xiao was blushing. But Aether does know better, I mean- why would Xiao even be blushing in the first place? To confess to him? No way!
“You know how I said we... We weren’t a couple and stuff to Hu Tao whenever she teases me about you and me being together?” Xiao asked. Oh shit- Awkward topic, alright. Aether immediately fixed his posture, “Yeah..?”
“You know, we could… Change that…”
“Huh?”
“We could try… y’know… Being a couple.” Xiao’s voice started to wither away into a smaller, barely-audible-through-the-phone one (just like his confidence).
“Xiao—Are you, you’re not joking right?” Aether corrected his posture, shuffling around in his bed to look serious.
“N..No, I’m not joking.”
“FUCK YEAH! I’d love to be a couple with you. You can be my boyfriend, I’ll be your boyfriend and we can be boyfriends together!” Aether blurted out, happy. He felt like the butterflies in his stomach that’s been bothering him for YEARS are having a fucking party.
Xiao blinked, confused, processing what just happened before smiling. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
It didn’t take long before Aether used his musical abilities to write a gift for Xiao. A song that’ll hopefully show just how much Aether loves him. And of course, as soon as he finished, he performed it. He remembered Xiao saying, hand covering his mouth and blush, how cheesy Aether was for writing an entire song for him when he could’ve done his assignments, but hey. Aether’s a simp, and he’s gonna do anything to get it across to his loveable boyfriend just how much he loves him.
❝I’m a million miles away,
But that won’t stop me from sayin’
I love you, I love you, I love you. ❞
“AETHER!!” Lumine frowned, “Are you coming with us or not?” She tapped her foot impatiently. Aether was struggling to put on his jacket, eyes too busy looking at a chatroom with Xiao. “Yeah, Ae. We don’t have all day.” Bennett chimed in.
“Y-Yeah, just gimme a minute.” Aether finally succeeded in putting his hand in the armhole and slid the jacket on, grabbing his phone to put it in his sidebag before he noticed a message.
[morpheus]: have fun with your friends. send me pictures if you took any
[morpheus]: actually just send me any pictures you have of your face ur rlly cute
[sisterless]: ur tOO SWEET ADFYZUHGAFSA
[sisterless]: ok gtg ily!!
[Morpheus]: ilyt <3
“Ya done?” Lumine was waiting outside of his door, obviously a bit upset. And impatient. “Yeah, I’m done.” “You have your charger ready?” “Mhm.”
“Okay, let’s go.” The group turned around.
“I can’t believe we’re going to Liyue!” I squealed as we walked outside of the apartment complex. “Courtesy of Diluc, of course.” He added. “Yeah, he’s really nice.”
“Mm. Nice.” Razor mimicked, agreeing. “So, Aether, you’re coming to see your significant other, no?” Fischl asked. “Yeah, I am! I can’t wait to see him.. He’s gonna pick us up later.”
“I see... Once we see him, we can finally interrogate him on his worth of being Aether’s significant other.” Fischl said with a satisfy smile. “Wait- wait what-“ “HELL YEAH!” Bennett hyped, making the others (except Aether) chime in.
“Wait I think we should quiet down a bit- we’re in the halls.”
❝We don’t need mountains leading to the sky,
Just let me look into your eyes
We’ll write our book,
Tell the story of us,
Oh, good morning..❞
“Aether!” The blond heard someone yell. He turned to look at who it was before smiling. A tall(er than him at least, Aether’s fucking small) figure with black-teal hair stood there, waving. Oh shiiiiit—
“Xiao!!” Aether immediately ran up to him, the only thing stopping him from tackling the taller man was the railings separating them. “Wait, wait.” Xiao chuckled, “Go through the exit first, we can hug after we get to your hotel.” Aether nodded at that, “Okay..”
The trip to the hotel wasn’t amazing or anything. It was kinda cramped if anything but hey, not a big deal! It’s not like Aether was the one being squished in between Razor and Fischl (Poor Lumine, really.) since, as boyfriend, he gets front seat rights.
Once they arrived, Aether quickly flopped onto his bed. “Tired?” “Jet lagged..” Aether yawned. “Mmm, oh by the way, Xiao.” Aether called out. “Yeah?”
❝I love you, Morpheus.❞