Chapter Text
Xiao’s alarm is the first thing that wakes him up this morning, though, for him, it’s not that big of a deal. See, he tends to be more of a late-night/early-morning type of person, so it doesn’t bother him that much.
Turning off his alarm on his phone, he tosses his legs over the side of his bed and rubs his eyes, running a hand through his messy hair. The dark haired boy then stands up to stretch, letting out a quiet yawn as he does so. Normally, he would do minimal stretches here in his apartment before going to the dojo, but he is a little more tired than usual after having his social battery drained pretty thoroughly from yesterday’s activities.
Xiao goes over to his closet, plucking his uniform off the hanger and folding it over his arm neatly. He heads off to the bathroom for his morning shower and daily routine of brushing his teeth and cleaning himself up. The shower is hotter than usual today, but Xiao doesn’t seem to pay it any mind as he steps right in, his mind too preoccupied with all his impulsive decisions last night. The guitarist groans, hanging his head and letting the water beat upon him.
“No way I actually got roped into learning how to play the flute,” he grumbles, snatching his shampoo from the shelf in the shower. He squirts a genuine amount of it onto his palm before running his hands through his hair, making sure he gets every strand. Xiao isn’t too particular about his appearance, but that doesn’t mean he’d let himself go. At least, not entirely. His fashion sense still needs a lot of work.
He lets the water wash away his shampoo and once the water runs clear of any bubbles, he moves on to his conditioner. Once again, he squirts the product onto his hands before running both hands through his hair. The warmer temperature feels nice for a change as he feels it caress his body. For a short man, Xiao certainly doesn’t live up to their stereotypes. He is very well built and can kick anybody’s ass should they try to mess with him. It doesn’t matter how tall they are or what they say, Xiao can definitely take them down.
As he lets his conditioner sit, he moves to grab his soap, squirting some onto his palm before letting his hands run over his body. He stands just outside of the stream of water as he does so as to not have the soap wash off right away and scrubs himself clean, watching as the bubbles attempt to cover up his tattoo. He often gets many questions on it from strangers who find the design peculiar, so he resorts to covering it up. It isn’t that he doesn’t want people to admire it, he just isn’t good at the conversation that follows suit, so he thinks it better to rid himself of the burden all together. Though, the diamond that resides on his forehead is not something he can so easily cover. Most often, Xiao tends to get questions about it from the younger generations, the older generations seem to understand that it may hold a religious background and would not like to step into that territory and accidentally insult him. He appreciates it, but kids can be relentless.
He sighs at the thought, thinking of a quiet girl named Qiqi. She attends his dojo from time to time and she is secretly Xiao’s favorite from his younger classes, not that he’d ever let anyone else know that. Speaking of the dojo, he’s going to be late if he doesn’t hurry up, so he rinses himself and his hair off before shutting off the water and stepping out. He dabs his face with a towel, before ruffling it on his head and dressing properly, the black belt around his waist tied securely. Before exiting the bathroom, the guitarist brushes his teeth quickly.
Xiao tosses his towel in the dirty laundry bin before grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He slips on his shoes and tosses a jacket over his uniform so as to try and not stand out as much. He could just change at the dojo but he didn’t feel comfortable enough doing so, so he continued to just change at home. Yawning once more, he skips breakfast and grabs his house keys, stepping out the door and locking it.
The guitarist makes his way down to the bus stop and waits patiently. He normally wouldn’t even need to take the bus, but his bike is in the shop right now getting a new paint job. Recently, he decided he would get the same image that resides on his arm, on his motorcycle. Xiao thought it to be a nice way to break up the “boringness” and appease Aether and Lumine. Speaking of which, he forgot to message “good morning”.
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[Me] Good Morning you two, I’m headed to the dojo rn
[Sunrise] morning xiao! have a nice day at work me and you know who are going to get more shots at this cool mountain range
Seen 09:47
———————
The twins happen to be well renowned photographers, traveling everywhere and meeting a bunch of different people along the way as they get various shots of surreal locations. Xiao is always amazed at how they just seem to pull you into each picture they take.
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[Sunset] morning, we’re going to qingce to be exact
[Sunset] i get to pick out the souvenir this time aether cuz you got to last time
[Sunrise] fine but xiao knows i always pick out the better ones!
[Sunset] dream on rapunzel
Seen 09:50
———————
Xiao chuckles at his two best friends and shuts off his phone, pocketing it. Those two always make it a point to bring him back something from their travels ever since they started that job. Now, Xiao has a whole bookshelf dedicated to their gifts which range from figurines, to keychains, to snowglobes. The guitarist appreciates every single one he’s given.
At that moment, the bus decides to show up, so Xiao makes his way over to the open door and pops coins into the slot. He chooses a spot near the middle of the bus because it’s where people don’t really sit; they normally flock to the front or back of the bus. Said bus begins moving and Xiao’s eyes catch on the small music store just down the block. The blinds are now lifted, letting in the natural sunlight and the open sign is flicked on. From where he sits, it’s hard to see inside the shop, but he can make out a few people wandering in and out of aisles and a very friendly boy with braids helping them out. He looks away.
The bus ride isn’t long as he watches the trees whizz by alongside the street lamps and other vehicles. Today is just another warm, June day with big, fluffy, white clouds overhead and a brightly shining sun to provide sight to all creatures. Xiao takes a deep breath in before letting it out heavily, enjoying the quiet hum of the engine.
He feels the bus come to a halt and that’s his cue to get up and leave, so he does exactly that. After looking behind him and checking his seat to make sure he didn’t drop anything, Xiao exits the bus and walks what little way is left to the dojo. When he makes it there, the bell above the door jingles and he can already see the other instructors ready and waiting. While Xiao doesn’t own the place, he has been working here for long enough to basically call it his own, though, he’s still had his fair share of bad experiences.
“Hello, Master Xiao,” a boy with bright blue hair greets with a bow, “how are you?” Xiao offers a small smile in return as he lets his backpack slide off his shoulder and onto the bench in the shoe area.
“I’m fine, thanks for asking. And you, Chongyun?” Xiao asks as he slips his shoes and socks off as well as his jacket. He shakes out his sleeves and twists his upper body in a stretch as he waits for a reply.
“I am well, thanks for asking— um,” the shy boy starts, “do you think I’ll be able to get my black belt this next testing?” He asks honestly, a hopeful look in his eyes. Chongyun has been at this dojo for as long as Xiao has worked here (two years) and he never fails to make Xiao’s heart melt in such an honest way. Chongyun is not only very respectful, but he has a heart of gold and strongly desires to do the very best he can. If anything, Xiao admires Chongyun for his work and dedication and respects his pursuit of his craft. The thing is, the boy gets easily overwhelmed; new events and situations can easily be way too much for him and it causes him to falter and mess up. This oftentimes is very discouraging to the young martial artist, but that’s nothing his friend (boyfriend?) couldn’t fix.
Xiao isn’t too sure what goes on between the two of them because it really isn’t his business, but it’s rare that the other blue haired boy— whose name he’s learned is Xingqiu— doesn’t pick Chongyun up after his time spent here. And the guitarist doesn’t fail to miss the red that often coats the young martial artist’s cheeks when he’s hounded for an opportunity to be observed as a muse for his friend’s martial arts novels.
“Try your best to keep a cool head and I think you’ll do just fine. I know you have it in you to pass that test,” Xiao encourages, which earns him a bright smile from the boy in front of him— who, of which, is taller than him. The older martial artist loathes that fact, but keeps it to himself.
Together, the two head into the dojo, only after bowing and reciting what is needed as a sign of respect. From then on, Xiao’s work day runs smoothly; more and more of his students show up ready for class and once everyone is here, they all bow and begin warming up. Xiao watches as each of his students settle into their normal routine with the friends they’ve come to make at this dojo and it warms his heart. He knows what it feels like to find such life long friends in a place you don’t really expect to and even if the life long friends he had come to make are gone now, he can’t help but bathe in their memory.
Once warm-ups are over, he makes his way over to Chongyun, seeing as he will be the only one doing the advancement test this upcoming week or two, he focuses his time on him. The other masters are off to help the others.
“All right, so what is it that’s been giving you trouble within the material?” He asks, his hands on his hips.
The bright haired boy sighs, “It’s the change from doing the kicks on one side to doing them on the other. I just can’t seem to grasp the switch.” Xiao nods, a hand under his chin as he looks over the boy’s frame. He then goes to stand besides Chongyun so he is also facing the big wall mirror.
“Watch my feet,” the instructor says calmly as he gets into a stance, “count for me.” Chongyun does as he’s told and watches Xiao go over the moves he’s been struggling with. He watches the way Xiao’s feet lift off the ground almost as if he’s flying for a second before landing gracefully with a thud. The older boy’s hair flutters against his cheeks and forehead as he spins in various different forms, pretending to hit an invisible board to demonstrate how it should be done. And once the numbers reach their peak, Xiao closes his sequence off in the finishing form before being told he can now bow, and he does so. He looks back over to Chongyun to see a hard face of concentration before he nods once, and slams his closed fist down on his palm.
“Okay! I think I’ve got it,” he moves to the spot on the floor Xiao was just in and prepares to begin moving when the counting starts. When the instructor starts counting, Chongyun begins going through his practiced moves with new found confidence, only hesitating a moment before reaching the part he struggles with the most. Xiao watches intensely as Chongyun flawlessly moves through the bit he was oh so worried about just moments before and he nods his head in approval, arms crossed over his chest.
When Chongyun finishes the sequence and bows, he turns to give Xiao the biggest, brightest smile he’s ever seen and it startles him a bit. “I did it! I understand how I should switch it around now! Can we move on to breaking the boards?” Chongyun asks eagerly, fisted hands brought up to his chest in excitement. Xiao uncrosses his arms with a nod and goes to grab the practice boards. These boards are designed to be harder to break than the actual wooden boards, so when it comes to breaking the actual boards, it should be a breeze.
Before Xiao even holds up the fake board to break, he holds up his hand where the board would be and motions for Chongyun to kick it. The younger boy obliges and once they’ve run through each board positioning and the instructor is satisfied with the strength of his kicks, they move onto the actual practice board. Chongyun readies himself and when Xiao nods, his student kicks the board in front of him with a shout, snapping it in half. The blue haired boy smiles brightly, getting back into position to kick apart the next board.
Chongyun is able to flawlessly break the practice board in half each and every time he kicks it, even when he switches legs and Xiao couldn’t be prouder. When the shy boy in front of him first walked into this dojo, he was nowhere near as confident as he is now, but look at him go. He’s going to get his black belt this next testing period and Xiao just knows it. Once Chongyun has put his mind to something, he gets it done and getting his black belt is just another ‘something’ in his ‘Goals to Achieve’ list.
“Well done, I expect to see a black belt around your waist after this next testing period,” Xiao comments, earning a determined nod from the younger boy in front of him. He dismisses Chongyun and watches as his sweaty form makes his way over to the always present, Xingqiu. The lighter haired of the two gives his friend a high five and gets a grossed out face in response. From where Xiao stood he could faintly hear complaining about a sweaty palm and how bad he smells and the instructor can’t help but to let out a small laugh.
He checks the clock and sees it’s about to be time for his next class, so he waves Chongyun and his friend(?)— he still wasn’t sure— goodbye. Xiao sighs, stretching his back and shoulders before sitting on the ground to stretch his legs. The rest of his classes go by slowly now that his favorite older student is gone (once again he wouldn’t let anyone know that) and soon it’s time to leave.
When the sun starts to dip lower in the sky is when the guitarist knows his daily duty has been fulfilled, so he says goodbye to his fellow instructors and grabs his things before exiting the building. Xiao inwardly groans at the sticky heat as he makes his way to the bus stop and waits once more for it to arrive. When it does, he, once again, sits in the middle and stares out the window, watching all the cars and pedestrians move past his gaze in colorful blurbs.
There are more people present on the bus, but that is to be expected at four in the afternoon— and like before, his eyes catch on the small music store. The lights in the store seem to be battling the sun for the better light source and this time he can see more clearly in through the windows, but the shop moves by too fast to make out anything more than just an adult helping a child pick out an instrument.
When the bus comes to a stop, he hops off and starts his walk home, already exhausted. Xiao grabs his keys from his backpack and unlocks the door to his apartment which was on the first floor. The way his apartment is built is as follows: there is a small path that leads from the sidewalk to his sideways steps that lead to his front door. One has to walk around the railings and up the stairs to greet the door that leads to his apartment. There, on the front of the building, is his living room window that— if not for the curtains— would allow anyone to see directly into his home.
Once inside the building, to the left is a solid wall, to the right is a small shoe rack put there by Xiao. One has to step up the small step from the door onto the main flooring to follow the hall in front to the rest of his apartment. Eventually, to the right, is the open wall that leads to his kitchen and living area; forward— past the kitchen and living room area— is the bathroom and across the hall from that is his room. The guitarist’s room has its own walk-in closet alongside it being a very spacious room in-and-of itself.
Xiao’s stomach growls, the consequences of not eating breakfast or lunch catching up to him. He normally has a lunch packed in his backpack for himself for work, but the events of yesterday caused him to forget such an important detail. Keeping healthy and fit is not something Xiao likes to push to the side, so he makes sure he supplies extra food to pack in his backpack for tomorrow before he takes his warm plate of food and sits at the island to eat. There, he scrolls through his phone and the only social media he has, to see Lumine and Aether’s updated page with new pictures from their adventures to Qingce Village.
From what it looks like, Lumine and Aether were allowed special passes into the big cave that resides in Qingce Village to take pictures. Xiao can tell from the way the pictures are taken and how they feel that they were taken by Aether. He has gotten good at recognizing the differences between the twins over all these years and the pictures were no different. He continues scrolling. Now, there are pictures from the biggest peak in the village, with dragon statues littering the rim of a small body of water. The sun can be seen falling in the background of these pictures; Lumine.
The reasoning behind Xiao’s choice of contact names for them is simple: Lumine prefers sunset photos, Aether prefers sunrise photos. And that’s why he can tell that this picture of the Qingxin flower— his favorite flower— is Lumine’s. The guitarist makes sure to like each photo before shutting off his phone and eating in silence. The rest of the night goes by as usual and he finds himself drifting off to a dreamless sleep.
*
Xiao has never been more nervous for a Thursday afternoon. It’s drawing increasingly closer to the end of his shift and he has only grown more and more stiff. It’s gotten to the point where he was told to stand out of the way of the youth martial artists because he isn’t being of much help. So, here he stands, in the corner of the dojo, just watching the people in front of him as he counts down the minutes to closing. When the clock finally strikes 16:00, Xiao almost jumps out of his skin as he is gently reminded that he can leave.
The guitarist grabs his backpack and heads out the door, still stiff as a board. He has an hour grace period before the chaos that is his first flute lesson begins. Does this count as his first flute lesson or did Tuesday count as his first lesson? He isn’t sure.
When he arrives home, he quickly showers and redresses, making sure he is properly groomed before checking his backpack to make sure he has what needs. Xiao’s backpack is sort of like a comfort item to him, the weight of it grounds him in situations where he begins to drift and this is one of those situations.
The time to leave has finally come, so Xiao swipes his keys off the counter and slips his shoes on. He closes and locks the door behind him inhaling deeply and holding it for a second or two before releasing it in one long, exasperated breath. As he walks, he can’t help growing more and more nervous. What is he even nervous for? It’s just simple flute lessons, nothing more and before he knew it, he arrived at the shop.
With a jingle, Xiao opened the front door and made his way inside. Looking around, not seeing anyone in sight, he tries calling out in a small, clearly anxious voice, “Um, hello??” That’s when loud footsteps can be heard running down the steps at the end of the hallways before a very out of breath Venti appeared before him.
“Hi! I didn’t think you’d actually come,” he said as he walked over to Xiao, regaining his breath.
“Why wouldn’t I come? We made a deal,” the guitarist asked, clearly not understanding where the boy in front of him is coming from. Venti gives him a quizzical look before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, which further confused Xiao.
“Don’t worry about it. Anyways, have you brought your flute with you?” Venti asks, hands on his hips with a tilt to his head. Xiao reaches into his bag and rustles about for a moment before he presents his gifted flute to the shop owner. “Great! Already on the right track, follow me this way, we can use the same practice room as last time.”
Xiao follows him quietly as he’s led to the place where this all began. He checks the number on the door and sees it’s practice room one which isn’t much of a surprise seeing as no one was using a practice room that day either.
“Make yourself a home, I hope this room isn’t too stuffy and uncomfortable,” Venti says as he steps into the room first, holding the door for his new student. Xiao can see that the guitars and their stands that were previously here are now gone, replaced by two music stands and two chairs. Venti’s flute rests neatly on a chair with a practice book on the stand in front of it, so Xiao makes his way over to the other seat, setting his backpack down on the ground.
“It’s fine, this room doesn’t feel stuffy at all,” he reassures Venti as he watches him move the empty music stand.
“Oh, that’s good, I would hope I don’t scare you off on your first official practice,” he replies. So it’s his first practice. Got it. The store owner then sits down on his respective chair and sets his flute in his lap. He flips the book in front of him open and scoots his chair and the music stand closer to Xiao so it’d be easier for him to see the notes. “You know how to read music, yes?”
“I do,” Xiao replies, watching Venti skip a couple pages to a very basic and very short song. Today, the boy forewent the hair clips and bracelets and his nail polish was already chipping off. Instead, he’s wearing an oversized sweatshirt with a kitten eating ramen on the front and jean shorts. From the way Venti is sitting, you’d have to look hard to see that he is actually wearing anything underneath at all— when he stands up, though, that’s not the case.
“Okay, cool. That means we can start right away with learning notes via this short song,” Venti turns to face Xiao, holding his flute up and placing his fingers in a certain order, “this is your starting pitch in the normal scale. Unlike the basic flute you see all the time, the Dizi doesn’t have any pieces that you press down and it covers the holes for you. This flute requires you to cover every hole entirely with your fingers alone.” Xiao tries not to be overwhelmed by that statement as he holds up his own flute, mirroring the way Venti’s fingers are placed.
“Great,” the shop owner plays the note, “now go ahead and try it out.” Venti watches as his student raises the instrument to his lips and attempts to make a sound but it comes out dull sounding. He giggles, gently twisting the flute so the mouth piece is in a better position. Xiao, with pink dusted cheeks, tries again and the sound comes out full and beautiful.
Venti claps, “Awesome! You’re such a quick learner, here, this is the next note.” The boy with the braids, readjusts his fingers and plays this new note before looking at Xiao expectantly. In response, the martial artist turned flute player looks at Venti’s hands before looking at his own and making the proper motions before bringing the flute up to his mouth. This time, the sound comes out full the first time and Venti smiles brightly.
Xiao can’t help the blush that coats his cheeks from the constant praise as he watches his teacher change his fingering for the third time. Venti shows him all the notes necessary to know for a beginner and Xiao picks it up surprisingly quickly. The store owner can’t remember the last time he had a student so skilled.
Xiao sets the flute down gently in his lap, slightly out of breath from holding the notes long enough to make sure they sounded correct. “Want some water?” the braided haired boy asks.
“If it’s not too much of a bother,” Venti only smiles as he gets up from his seat and sets his flute down on it. Xiao watches his hands become engulfed by the sleeves of his sweatshirt, almost forming paws if it weren’t for the tips of his fingers still showing. He still cannot believe someone can be this pretty and he sure hopes he isn’t embarrassing himself too much in front of a very skilled flute player. He wonders if there will ever be a time where he can hear Venti play it again.
Xiao’s eyes flick to the abandoned flute on the chair and then the door. He wonders if he’ll get in trouble if he looks at it. Well, to be fair, Venti did let him hold it before. So, with that logic, the guitarist gracefully picked up the Dizi and holds the tassel in his hand once more. He questions the meaning behind the tassel as well as why his doesn’t have one. Does it make the flute sound any better or worse? Maybe it’s just decoration?
He doesn’t get to think much longer, though, when Venti gently opens the door to the music room again, holding a glass of water in one hand. He catches Xiao in the act of admiring his flute and the martial artist gives him a sheepish smile. Venti only closes the door once more and hands the water to his student. With a small ‘thanks’ Xiao takes the water and sips from it.
“Don’t worry, I don’t mind if you touch my flute; just don’t break it, of course,” Venti laughs, an arm slug over the top of his chair, his other hand coming to rest on the opposite wrist. His left leg is bent across the seat of the chair, with his right leg hanging over his left ankle. His body is now completely turned towards Xiao, he doesn’t know what to do with this newfound attention.
“..Is there.. any meaning behind this tassel?” he asks, fidgeting with the loose ends. Venti’s eyes grow darker and his smile turns bittersweet. Maybe he should have kept his thoughts to himself.
“Sort of. It was just my brother’s,” the flute player says softly.
“Was?” Xiao asks, looking Venti in the eye, though the shop owner couldn’t meet his for they were locked on the flute.
“Yup, my twin brother to be exact. It was his tassel, but it’s my flute. He was actually the one to introduce me to music and the freedom that comes with it,” he reminisces. The martial artist can’t help but feel like there’s more to that story, but he has no right to push him any further. “You can have one of your own, y’know.” Venti’s eyes finally meet his, they’ve regained their usual brightness to them.
“I can? I didn’t see any in the shop last time I was here, or when I walked through earlier,” he says confusedly.
“That’s ‘cause you’re not looking in the right place!” Venti speaks happily as he brings his hand across his chest in a swiping motion, index and thumb extended. “We have all sorts of colors and designs in this place! Some are longer and some are shorter and some are heavier and some are lighter. It all depends on which one you like the most, so what’s your favorite color?”
“Uh.. green,” the martial artist responds hesitantly.
The store owner’s eyes sparkle and a big smile splits his face, “really?! Me too! Well, I lean more towards teal than green-green, if that makes any sense.” Xiao nods in understanding and sucks in a sharp breath as his teacher abruptly stands up and holds out his hand, “Let’s go look at some for you!”
He hesitates, staring at Venti’s outstretched hand and before he realizes it, said hand is retracting, “oh, sorry, it’s a habit,” the boy with braids states, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
Xiao coughs to clear the awkward tension, “it’s fine, I just didn’t expect it. Let’s go pick out a tassel.” At this, Venti’s bright smile returns as he watches Xiao set down his almost finished cup of water, both flutes now in hand. He hands Venti his own flute which the latter accepts gratefully. This time, Xiao is the one holding the door open for Venti as he practically skips his way out of the practice room and into the main part of the store, braids bouncing.
The guitarist follows his cheerful teacher to the front of the store where the cash register is and watches as he goes to stand behind it. The counter in which the cash register is placed is glass allowing a view inside of it to look at the many differently displayed tassels and charms they were just talking about. Xiao sets his flute down gently, on the counter next to Venti’s as he peers inside the box, eyes running over all the differently colored items.
“You said you like green, right? What about these?” The flute player unlocks the counter and slides the door open to reach inside, grabbing three different options of green charms. He lays them out before Xiao and leans his weight on the counter in waiting.
The guitarist inspects each tassel, holding them up in his hands and to the light to see how the charms attached to them shimmer. Once he’s done inspecting each item, he sets them all back down in a neat line and lays a hand on his chin. Venti bites his lip absentmindedly in anticipation as he watches Xiao’s eyes slide over his products.
His student sighs, “I can’t choose.”
“Wanna match?” Venti suggests, dragging out the vowels in the word ‘wanna’ hesitantly. It takes a moment for Xiao to process the question which leads Venti to begin trying to cover up and take back the suggestion. “Well- I mean- only if you want to, that is, don’t stress over it too much it looks like you stopped breathing. Are you breathing? Hey!”
Xiao’s attention is snapped back to a very anxious looking shop owner when he feels a flick to his forehead. The guitarist brings a hand up to press the place where he was struck. “Sorry, you really did look like you stopped breathing. Did the question bother you that much?” he asks, retreating from his tippy toes and back onto the ground fully. Venti had to stand on them in order to reach Xiao over the counter. Both of them aren’t very tall, to say the least.
“No, quite the opposite,” the look of surprise on Venti’s face is the only thing that makes Xiao realize the words that just left his mouth. Now it was his turn to try and stutter his way through this mess, “I mean, like, it doesn’t bother me all that much, if at all. In fact I like the idea. Wait- that’s not-.“ Xiao buries his face in his hands at the vicious grin that spreads across his teacher’s face. He can’t help but feel like he somehow lost.
Venti giggles, a slight pink dusting his cheeks as he picks up the tassel and charm that most resemble his own. Xiao watches with similarly pink-dusted cheeks with his chin in his palm as Venti skillfully ties the charm tassel onto his student’s flute. With no more exchanged words, he pays for the new decor and takes his flute back in his hands once the shop owner gives him his receipt.
Venti holds up his own flute and Xiao does the same, “see look, they match!” Xiao’s flute charm almost looks identical if it weren’t for the darker shade of both green and red on the jade ring and red tassel hooked to it. He nods. Then Venti’s phone buzzes and the former checks it. “Oh, wow. I didn’t even notice the time. That was my reminder to close up shop,” he says before pocketing his phone.
The guitarist nods once more before taking in his surroundings. There’s no one here besides them. “You’re going to do it alone?” he asks innocently.
Venti nods, “yup, I’m the only employee, so I kinda have to,” he smiles, moving from behind the counter to begin his clean up. Xiao watches as he makes his way down the isles, straightening and returning everything to their rightful places.
“Here, let me help you,” he tries, only to be stopped by his teacher’s words.
“That’s very nice of you, Xiao, but I don’t have the money to pay for another employee,” he smiles bittersweetly, before returning to his duty.
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m doing this of my own accord, you can think of it as compensation or the flute if you really need to,” he states firmly, unwilling to watch this very kind boy do all this work by himself. Speaking of which, that was the first time the formerly mentioned very kind boy said his name. Xiao liked the way his name sounded on Venti's tongue.
Venti hesitates, eyeing his student suspiciously before sighing dramatically and sagging his shoulders, “fiiiiine, I guess you can help me out, but I’m not paying you even if you ask. You said this service was free,” he pouts cutely. Xiao gives him a thumbs up in return before taking orders from the shop owner on where things belong and the like.
Together, they worked as a team straightening out the store, making sure everything was all neat and tidy for tomorrow. A couple of times, Venti would unintentionally bump into Xiao’s back trying to find the place where things belong. He’s just too surprisingly focused on getting his work done for a seemingly lazy person. Xiao wouldn’t mind, though, his mind would hyperfixate on the phantom feeling of the places where their bodies made contact before said feeling disappeared completely.
Not too long after they started would they finish with Xiao checking out all the practice rooms and grabbing his water and backpack out of the one they used as well as the practice book Venti had provided. He downs the rest of his water and hands the empty glass to Venti when he holds out his hand for it, assumingly to take back to where it belonged. When the guitarist tries to hand the book back as well, Venti places the tips of his fingers gently on the top of the book and pushes back towards Xiao. “This is yours to keep, what else would you use to practice?” he jokes.
“Oh, right, I forgot,” the guitarist then places it into his backpack and readjusts it on his back.
“Speaking of which, you should just practice the scales we went over today. They should be on, like, the first two pages,” Xiao, nods, looking a bit nervous and Venti tilts his head. “What’s wrong? You look worried.”
“Right, um, I don’t know if I’m going to remember that and I don’t have anything to write on-“ before Xiao could finish speaking, the flutist swipes a pen off the counter and goes to grab Xiao’s arm before he pauses and looks at his student.
“Can I?” he asks with a click of the pen. Xiao nods, holding out his wrist for Venti to write on. Instead of extending his arm sideways and allowing Venti to write on it that way, he extends his arm forward like a dumbass so his teacher has to stand perpendicular to his chest in order to write down his reminder. This causes Venti’s body to be scarily close to Xiao and he can lightly smell the refreshing scent of Cecillia flowers wafting off of him. He holds his breath.
With another click of his pen Venti announces the completion of his task, “there, all done! Now you won’t forget.” Venti smiles at Xiao as he looks down to read what his teacher wrote. His eyes blow wide at the heart drawn onto his arm next to the neat ‘practice flute scale’ printed lettering. When he looks up at Venti and points to his arm with his mouth slightly ajar and eyes questioning, he only giggles, “I thought it was cute.”
The guitarist had to agree, it was very much indeed, cute. Too cute. He closes his mouth and shakes his sleeve back down his arm. “Right, well I’ll see you Tuesday, then. Have a nice night,” Xiao responds, making his way to the door with Venti following close behind.
“Sure thing,” Venti replies and he holds the door open for Xiao as he exits. With a small wave, the shop owner closes the door and locks it. The martial artist watches as the boy with braids slips the shutters down over the store windows and shuts off all the lights. He looks back down at his arm and moves his sleeve up the tiniest bit, just so he can see the heart.
Oh no.