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The night Chongyun discovered Xingqiu had been lying to him for over eight months straight, it was raining cats and dogs all around Liyue. The thunder outside terrifying both adventurers and hilichurls alike, everyone quickly searching for shelter in the Harbor and waiting for the weather to calm down, be it around midnight or in the morning. That night, the exorcist had found himself closer to Xingqiu’s house than his own, and therefore it was common sense to hide there instead of risking being struck by lightning. Especially with how his cryo powers would, quite simply, work as a conduct and electrocute him alive.
While time passed, the duo simply had spent it together in the second son’s room, resting in his bed, Xingqiu reading his book while Chongyun absentmindedly crafted a talisman, every now and then they’d begin a conversation, light chatter that best friends did when an idea spawned into their minds. Not that they disliked the silence, since it made their company ever so more enjoyable. A boy of few words, was the exorcist, in comparison to the charm and wit Xingqiu’s sentences carried.
But that charm and wit didn’t come with ‘thinking-through-your-words’ when it came to chatter between them.
(The way the conversation had gone was still fresh and engraved into Chongyun’s memory, it had been less than an hour since it, after all.
“Gods, I am still saving up for the repairs needed for my claymore” He had mumbled ever-so-casually, his face turning to see his friend in case he hadn’t listened.
“Maybe if you hadn’t spent all of it on information, you’d have saved up for it already” The younger one teased, while glancing from his book to meet Chongyun’s sight, and he just knew the little shit was smiling behind it. “Do you remember the time you spent all your mora in obtaining intel for the rumoured demon in Lisha?” Xingqiu added, as if to prove his point.
“You don’t have to remind me of that, it was embarrassing that all I received in exchange for the trip was being smacked in the face by a Hilichurl’s shield”
“Haha! Oh man, I still wish I had been able to see it, I can’t believe I came up with such a creative intel.”
A tiny slip of the tongue, but it didn’t go unnoticed, as the light-blue haired boy stared at Xingqiu, from his position slowly lifting his torso up with his arms to turn to his ‘fine friend’. “What… did you say?”)
The rain had somewhat managed to cool down Chongyun, but he was still upset, and boiling hot. It was probably only going to make him sicker once he was home, but he didn’t give a damn, and he wasn’t headed home. In fact, he was going farther away from it by the minute, as he had walked in the direction of the golden house and Mt.Tianheng with no hesitation in his walk, just taking distance in consideration.
And right now he wanted to be as far away from Xingqiu’s general radius of existence as he possibly could.
Trust was key, especially when it came to demons, and especially when it came to believing about demons.
Of course, many knew they existed, many knew Chongyun's condition, but his entire line of work functioned on people 'trusting' what he did, on the fact that he allegedly just sat down and the spirit vanished. It wasn't always easy, but if they trusted him, and (obviously) the demon didn't come again, it meant he was telling the truth.
And that was something that he expected from others, that was why he believed without hesitation what anyone else said. And that anyone was especially Xingqiu. He had helped him so much, how could he not trust him?
Maybe he should've doubted his beliefs for once.
(Whenever Chongyun’s congenital positivity took over, it was in funny situations, be it Xiangling’s restaurant after eating, or simply him going hyperactive in the middle of the sun. But this time it wasn’t a funny situation, and this time Xingqiu wasn’t having a blast seeing it go down.
“This entire time, you have been lying to me?” the boy asked in disbelief, having already stood up from the bed, even though he almost fell from it with how quickly he wished to move away from Xingqiu right then. “All this time, all the information of demons that could resist my condition, exorcists that were spending time in Liyue Harbor or Wangshu Inn, all the rumours, you made them up?!”
“Chongyun, I can explain, please calm down-” Xingqiu had asked rapidly, raising both hands as if wishing to touch him, “I-I thought it’d be a good idea! I didn’t like how you… how it affected you!” He tried to reach out. However, before his hand could reach for the other’s wrist, Chongyun quickly pulled it back and away from him.
“No!” He exclaimed, his face clearly slowly starting to grow red. His nose, and ears, to begin with. It meant he was starting to heat up. “I trusted you!” The exorcist voice was loud, louder than ever before, even cracking a bit as he spoke. “Gods of Teyvat, I trusted you, Xingqiu! I believed every single word you ever said! Was this all a joke to you?!”
“No, no! It neve-”
“Was this just one of you pranks?! Did you think ‘Oh let’s play with this guy’s condition, let’s make him believe it’s something he can overcome!’ or what?! Was that it?!”
“Chongyun, no! It was never like that!” His arms wished to reach out, hold him and hug him, explain everything right then and there, “Please, sit down, your condition--”
“TO HELL WITH MY CONDITION.” Was yelled right into Xingqiu’s face, and it was right there where he actually noticed how red and teared up Chongyun’s eyes truly were.
Silence. Pure silence, as one tried to hold back tears, and the other tried to seek for an explanation.
But before Xingqiu’s wit could come up with one, Chongyun had stormed off.)
Xingqiu had (miserably) attempted to search for Chongyun, even if he himself was at risk from being struck by lightning. His amber eyes looked around, asking Xiangling, Clerk Zhao, and others if they had seen him. It wasn’t until a store owner commented about how worried he was about that ‘kid with a sword bigger than him,’ and how it was dangerous for someone so young to go alone.
The second son rushed to the merchant and asked, “I’m sorry, do you remember where he was headed?” His voice showed a bit of worry, but he was trying to hide the desperation and stress in his face, in case anyone came to recognize him.
“Of course I do, he was headed towards the golden house, south of Liyue harbor, kiddo. But isn’t it too dangerous for you to be alone as well? Where are your parents?”
Xingqiu couldn’t care less, as he, almost by instinct, replied with a ‘Thank you!’ and ran to the direction he had been told.
He was lucky enough to catch up to him, watching from higher ground as Chongyun was fending off some Hilichurls, albeit with difficulty. His combat movements seemed sloppier, the fight was more filled with curses and yelling from the exorcist than actual hits. It took Xingqiu a solid moment for his brain to process that maybe it’d be a good idea to help him out even if there were only two enemies left, and soon enough he jumped from his location and plummeted down with his sword, the blast of power and impact sending the solo hilichurl flying, and startling Chongyun as well, who had just taken down the other one.
They stared at each other for a moment, rain still falling on both, and the distance still feets long. Xingqiu’s short hair draping down like two curtains on each side, even his earring was wet. Chongyun’s bangs almost touching his blue eyelashes, water droplets falling from his chin.
“What are you doing here?” Chongyun asked, still panting heavily from the fight he just had on his own.
“I…” he was trying to find words to explain, but just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I just couldn’t let you go out in this rain.”
He tuted, his icy eyes looking away as he rested the claymore against the ground. “I can handle myself.”
“You’re literally running a fever” Xingqiu shot back, “For the love of the seven, even if the coldness of the rain has cooled you down already, you’re going to be sick”
“Then how about you go in that direction-” his hand pointed south, away from Liyue Harbor “Wait for me to go home, and THEN go back. Because I am not going to go home with a liar like you.”
Gods, did his words hurt, he knew it was the Congenital Positivity which made him all so explosive, but did his words hurt. “Can’t we just speak like normal people for once? I genuinely didn’t mean to hurt you, Chongyun.”
“Then what was it? Whatever was your intention?”
Once again silence, what was his intention? He had never really thought about it. The day he said his first lie was simply a tiny candle lighting up. Chongyun had been so sad that day, and the way his face lighted up warmed Xingqiu’s heart.
“...I liked seeing you happy.” He confessed, and the other quirked an eyebrow upwards, waiting for the continuation “When I gave you the idea, your face lit up in a way I have never seen ever since that day. You had found a reason to keep on fighting to be an actual exorcist, and you began to look forward to the day where you’d be able to try Jueyun Chili without blacking out, or being able to spend a hot day on the beach. I just wanted to continue looking at that. I … wanted to give you hope because seeing you happy made me happier. A-and I know lying was a terrible solution! I just thought you’d never… find out, I don’t know. It was stupid. I kept looking for actual information and found nothing, and I was terrified of how it’d hurt you if you found that out instead. But...” he sighed, “I guess I ended up hurting you in another way, huh?”
Chongyun stared in silence, taking in what he had said, and then looked away again, “I… guess so too.”
“Is there an actual I can make it up to you?” Xingqiu asked in a softer voice.
“Honestly? I don’t know,” he replied, his tone almost coming out too blunt “But you’re also someone I don’t want to lose. We’ll just work on this together.”
Before Xingqiu could reply however, his attention was set into something else, which was that Chongyun’s hair seemed to slowly start to lift up, as if static--
Oh, gods no. No, no no no no nononono
It all turned into slow motion, how Chongyun was still looking away into the horizon, distracted, while Xingqiu began to run forward, as fast as his legs allowed him to, tackling Chongyun and moving him away from the spot he had been standing on. And just as they fell, lightning struck in the spot the exorcist had been in.
Chongyun stared from the ground, speechless, and probably by the fear and by how pale he had just gone, it was clear that he wasn’t expecting it, and that his condition’s anger burst from prior was cooling down faster simply out of sheer shock.
“...Holy shit” Was all he managed to finally say, as the two still stared there in silence, before Xingqiu finally snapped back into reality.
“Oh- crap! We need to move, quick” He began to speak, as he moved off Chongyun and grabbed his hands to help him up, and then proceeded to hold his hand (which thankfully wasn’t hot, just warm) while he began to walk towards the Harbor “My brother has explained this to me before! Lightning DOES strike twice in the same place, we are at risk, we need to head home ASAP.”
On the other side of the coin, Chongyun didn’t know if he should still act hurt or continue the chat. He was still processing the fact Xingqiu saved him. If it had all been a lie, if their friendship was a lie, if Xingqiu’s words were a lie, he wouldn’t have risked his own life. Even if he forgot all by tomorrow -which by the gods he hoped he didn’t- there was something that hopefully would stick to him, and it was that Xingqiu did care.
So, after a moment, Chongyun simply inquired.
“What do you mean lightning strikes twice?”