Chapter Text
Chongyun walks through the haunted maze with a blank face. So far, there wasn’t anything suspicious about the place. No unusual cold spots or phenomena that come with a spirit’s presence. He sighs. Another fake lead.
He slid his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and continued walking, barely glancing at the actors that popped out to scare him. It’s hard to be afraid when he knew that everything was fake.
A figure bumps into him and he startles, catching them in his arms as they suddenly screech and bury their face in his chest. Warmth fills his cheeks and he looks up to see a pale woman staring at them from a corner with one bloodshot eye. Her matted hair covered the rest of her face, but he could see why the stranger in his arms got frightened by the actor. Her makeup looks scarily realistic.
“Hey,” Chongyun whispers once she leaves, pushing the stranger away gently to see their face, “are you okay?”
They look up and Chongyun is taken aback by the warmth of their gaze, so unlike the icy stare of his own blue eyes. For a moment, they just look at each other, but the stranger seems to realize how intimate their position is and promptly jolts back.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” he says, red up to his ears. Chongyun’s willing to guess that his own face looks that way.
“It’s fine.” It really isn’t, his heart is still beating a mile a minute from how cute this boy is but hey, it’s a good thing he has his poker face mastered by now. Chongyun smiles, which seems to reassure the blond with how he smiles back bashfully. “Are you here by yourself?”
“No,” he replies and oh god, he’s pouting. Chongyun can feel his face warming again. “I’m actually here with friends but I got separated from them.”
He brings his arms up to hug himself, looking around nervously. In the distance, they can hear other people screaming and the sound of a chainsaw revving up, which doesn’t really faze Chongyun, but he can’t say the same for the pretty stranger.
An idea suddenly pops into Chongyun’s head. “Well, why don’t we just go through the maze together then?” he suggests, walking up to his side with a small smile. “Things are less scary with someone else.”
The pretty stranger brightens. “Really?”
“Sure, I’m here alone too.”
“Great!” he slips an arm around Chongyun’s, practically hugging it as he drags him deeper into the maze. “Let’s hurry then. I’d rather not stay here any longer than I have to. I swear I’m gonna kill Paimon when I see her…”
Chongyun didn’t hear the rest of it, too focused on the warmth of his touch and the way he’s clinging onto his arm to pay attention to his words. Xingqiu’s going to have a field day when he hears about this.
He finds out that the stranger’s name is Aether, once they got out of the maze and a small girl shouts out his name as she rushes towards them.
“There you are!” she says, frowning. “What took you so long? We were waiting for you.” Her gaze then lands on their interlinked arms and realization seems to dawn on her. “Oh.”
“Uh.” Chongyun flushes and Aether quickly moves away from him. He chooses to ignore the rush of disappointment that came through him. Instead, he says, “Hi, I’m Chongyun.”
“I’m Paimon!” the girl beams and tugs Aether to her side. “Thanks for taking care of this little sissy here. I was kinda worried he wouldn’t make it in one piece.”
“Hey!”
“It’s nothing,” Chongyun replies, putting his hands in his pockets. “Glad to be of help.”
“I’m standing right here, you know,” Aether huffs before turning to Chongyun with a softer look. “But thanks for helping me out. I would have probably passed out before making it to the end.”
He giggles and Chongyun’s hands curl into fists. Deep breaths, Chongyun. No need to panic over a pretty boy’s giggle. “It’s fine, really. I had a good time too.”
“Really? You didn’t seem bothered at all,” Aether says. “I wish I had that kind of bravery.”
Chongyun laughs. “You give me too much credit. I—“
“As cute as you two are, you should probably go tell Razor you’re alright, Aether,” Paimon cuts in, tugging at Aether’s sleeve. “He feels bad that you got left behind.”
“Cute…?”
“Paimon!” Aether glares at her, about to walk away before making eye contact with Chongyun. “Um, it was nice meeting you, Chongyun” he says, gaze flitting back and forth between him and the ground. “See you around!” He gives him one last smile before scurrying off towards a silver-haired boy and a girl dressed in red.
“He’s hopeless,” Paimon sighs, shaking her head in exasperated fondness. “Here,” she hands him a piece of paper with a phone number on it, “if you want to see Aether again, this is his number.”
Chongyun’s eyes widen and he’s about to ask why she just has this on her, but she runs off before he could even put together the words. He sighs and looks down at the piece of paper in his hands. A giddy feeling starts to rise in his chest and he tries to press it down, but he still feels himself grin and quickly adds Aether’s number into his phone.
He’s looking forward to seeing him again.