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Cheng Xiaoshi wasn't a stranger to running.
He wasn't that strong of a kid. No big muscles or anything like that on his side. He was just a skinny little shit kid no one bothered to care about. Most of the time, that got him out of the spotlight enough that any bullies left him alone by principle. But Cheng Xiaoshi wasn't a stranger to running when his small stature didn't give him any luck with them.
This kind of running, however, was far different than he was used to.
Qiao Ling was catching up fast, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it except to run faster. He skidded around corners of buildings, running into them and cursing himself. Small puddles in his path became bombs waiting to happen as he missed avoiding them and his shoes started to get wetter and wetter.
It rained the night before. His shoes were not thanking him. His feet weren't far behind them.
"Cheng Xiaoshi! Get over here right now!" Future Mrs. Landlady was hot on his tail and pissed. Of course, he wouldn't expect anything else after what he did.
The surprise Qiao Ling and her father gave him when he came home from school was just so incredibly wonderful. And so incredibly too much.
It was the first birthday he was spending away from his parents. Wherever they were, he was sure they were missing him just as much as he was missing them. It was hard, but he'd been determined to be strong for this day, for everyday that they weren't here. He didn't think about how it'd been months since they'd been back. He didn't think about how they hadn't written, hadn't called, hadn't left him anything to get ahold of them. He didn't think about how much it all hurt.
All day, Xiaoshi kept up the act of being fine and perfect and okay. He smiled at people who wished him happy birthday, he took the well wishes in stride. He coasted through the whole day, thinking only of when he get home and he could bundle himself in his sheets and finally let himself feel all those stupid sad emotions he had bundled inside him.
Of course Qiao Ling and her father…they just had to-
"Cheng Xiaoshi!" Qiao Ling's voice was breathy and close. Xiaoshi was barely breathing as he held a hand to his mouth and huddled closer to the brick building. The dumpster hiding his view of the street and subsequently of Qiao Ling herself was shadowing everything and the metal bit cold into his body. Still Xiaoshi held his mouth closed and trembled with waning adrenaline and mixed up emotions.
"Cheng Xiaoshi." His only friend's voice was quieter as she passed his hiding space. It was soft and quiet and hurt. Xiaoshi squeezed his eyes shut. "Please come out." She pleaded.
Whether because his trembling legs finally gave out from the run all the way from their houses, or because a god wanted him punished, Xiaoshi's leg jerked and slipped from beneath him, slamming into the dumpster beside him. Its empty metallic inside echoed loudly and all of Xiaoshi froze in horror.
Qiao Ling froze too, her pleading and soft words cut off in an instant.
His mouth hurt from how hard Xiaoshi was pushing on his mouth and nose in an effort to stop the inevitable. His body ached too from pressing against the rough bricks behind him. His eyes were closed shut as well as he could, shut so tightly that sparks of blinding color danced behind his closed eyelids.
A pair of warm hands gently pulled his hands from his face. Xiaoshi's eyes shot open.
Qiao Ling was smiling warmly at him, sadly too. She pried his hands away and held them in both of hers and she dirtied her dress with her knees on the ground in front of him. She looked away from his shocked expression and played with his hands, massaging them slow and careful as she did.
"I'm sorry." She whispered into the air between them. Xioashi swallowed thickly. "I didn't know it would hurt you this badly."
"I'm not hurt." He immediately said in response. But the running and the trembling and the onslaught of emotions fried his voice so it came out husky and cracked. He swallowed again, but his mouth felt dry and his eyes stinging didn't help.
"I'm still sorry." She said, "I just thought it'd be nice if we had something for your birthday."
"Like noodles?" They hadn't stopped whispering since Qiao Ling had first found him and grabbed his hands softly. She hadn't let go of them either. "M-My mom always used to make them for birthdays."
Qiao Ling nodded. "My mom used to too. Dad's not too great at it, they always get soggy and he uses too many spices, but it still tastes the best."
What a perfect time for Xiaoshi's stomach to make itself known. Qiao Ling giggled and squeezed his hands once before letting go.
"Come on then." She said, getting up before him and 'dusting' herself off. The marks on her dress bottom were sure to stain, but Qiao Ling didn't look anything but happy as she looked down at him and held out her hand to him. "They'll only get cold and soggy if we wait longer."
Xiaoshi had a lot happen to him in the last year. He'd been with his parents one minute, loved fiercely and protectively, then dropped off at an old seemingly abandoned store front in a neighborhood he'd never been to the next. He had wonderful, perfect birthday wishes one year with a few small but hand delivered red envelopes one year, and nothing the next. He'd been someone important one year, and forgotten the next.
But as he walked slowly back to Qiao Ling's house with her hand in his, guiding him and he wiped the lingering tears from his eyes that didn't seem to want to stop or faulter in their onslaught, he wondered if everything was as bad as it seemed.
He might not have his parents this year, but he did have Qiao Ling and her father, as distant as he might be. He didn't have celebrations grand or otherwise big, but he did have homemade and warm food waiting for him.
He didn't have a lot, but Cheng Xiaoshi still had people that cared for him.
Maybe that was enough.