Chapter Text
“And then— uh, Xiao? Xiao, are you listening?”
He was not, in fact, listening to his friend, Zhongli. They were sitting together in the campus library, trying to study for… something. He didn’t remember. He was a little busy with staring out of the window. You can’t blame him for not caring.
“You seem preoccupied. Is something on your mind?” Zhongli asked, closing the book he had open.
“Mm? Uh, no. No, why?” Xiao picked at his sleeve.
“You’ve been like this for the past week. Since you moved into your new apartment, actually. Is that bothering you?”
Xiao didn’t reply. He only set his chair back down on the ground, taking his boots off the library table. His eyes stayed trained on his sleeve.
“Weird neighbors? Even worse, loud neighbors? Are you getting enough sleep at night?”
“No. The neighbors are fine. I just don’t get sleep. Ever.”
Zhongli nodded. “That explains the red around your eyes.”
“A: that’s eyeliner. B: you literally do the same thing.”
Zhongli chose to ignore this. “Why are you so distracted?”
Xiao sighed. There was no getting out of this. “My roommate. He’s…”
“Hm?”
“He’s… eccentric. And annoying, and loud, and a music major.” He said this as if it was the most offensive thing he could think of.
“Oh my, not a music major.”
“Yeah. A music major. And I have to deal with it.”
“Well, you could always move again.”
“With what money?” Xiao scoffed. “I’m almost as broke as you are.”
“I am not broke.”
“You are too. The only reason you can afford anything is because that dumbass Childe pays for it.”
Zhongli’s face reddened, if only for a moment. “Yes. Well. I’m just saying that moving elsewhere is an option, if your roommate is truly that bad.”
Xiao thought back to said roommate. His stupid, round face. The stupid smug smile every time he slammed the door shut and started blaring loud rock music. His stupid braids flopping in his face as he danced around emphatically in the living room. Stupid, stupid, stupid. All of it was stupid. “Ugh, just thinking about his face makes me angry.”
Zhongli studied him for a moment. “Are you sure it’s anger?”
“What do you mean?”
Zhongli smiled softly. “Forget I said anything.”
Xiao tilted his head. “No, what did you mean? Tell me.”
“You’ll figure it out, soon enough. Anyway. We’ve gotten off track. You need to pass this biology class, otherwise your GPA will become even lower than it already is.”
Alright, Xiao thought. Back to staring out the window.
Probably the last thing he should have done.
A young man in a blue-green beanie popped up, walking next to a pair of blonds: one wearing a flowy white dress, the other sporting a long braid.
“Oh, god,” Xiao whispered.
“What was that?”
“Oh, god, he’s here.” Xiao pulled his black hood over his head, rushing to put his things in his bag. “He’s here, at the library.”
“Yes. People often come to the library to study. Which is what we’re meant to be doing, by the way,” Zhongli mentioned drolly, pulling Xiao’s hood off of his head. “No hoods in the library.”
“He can’t see me. He’s going to tackle me in public. Or— or something dumb like that.” Xiao stood up quickly, putting his hands on the table. “He’s crazy.”
The two blonds walked into the library first, the young man with a beanie trailing behind. None of them were very tall, but the man with the long braid was the tallest. The flowy dress girl walked off with him, leaving the beanie boy…
The beanie boy scanned the library. His eyes settled on Xiao finally. He gasped.
“Xiao! Hey! Xiaoooo! Over here! Hello!”
Xiao winced. He turned around shamefully and waved slowly at the boy. The boy ran over to him, and just as expected, tackle hugged him.
“Hi, hi, hello! I didn’t know you were going to the library today,” he mentioned, looking at Xiao. Another annoying, stupid thing— he was only around Xiao’s chest height. Xiao wasn’t very tall himself, but having a roommate shorter than him… it felt like the beginning of a disastrous relationship.
“I didn’t mention it.” Xiao pulled the boy off of him. “Ah. Zhongli, this is—“
“Venti! Venti, at your service,” the boy smiled, holding his hand out to Zhongli. Zhongli took it warily.
“It’s… a pleasure to meet you, Venti. I’m glad Xiao has friends.”
Xiao glared at him. Venti just laughed.
“I sure hope we’re friends! It’d suck if my roommate hated me, haha. I’m glad I haven’t scared him off yet.”
Xiao inhaled slowly. Zhongli started to smile. “Yeah. Well. Zhongli and I— we were just studying for my— uh, biology class. But we just finished. I’m— I’ll be at home. Bye.”
“Aw. Bye, then. See you later?”
“I guess.”
Xiao grabbed his bag and got out of the library as soon as possible.
Unknown Number: hey you want anything for dinner
Unknown Number: im onmw home rn
Unknown Number: aether fell asleep and we had to shake him awake lmao
Xiao: Who is this?
Unknown Number: ?????
Unknown Number: its your roomie venti
Xiao: Oh. Sorry.
Venti: its nbd ur fine
Xiao: …
Xiao: Are you even speaking English?
Venti: ye get on my level scrub
Xiao: 😐
Venti: answer my damn question do you want food or naw
Xiao: If you want to pick up something. I’m not hungry; plus I can cook something if i do get hungry. Do whatever you want.
Venti: aw yiss im bringing home pizza hut
Xiao: Pizza Hut is banned from this apartment.
Venti: u r an asshole xx bringing home the pizza hut anyway
Xiao: I’m not eating it.
Venti: were u gonna eat anything i brought home?
(Read by Xiao at 8:36 pm)
Xiao set down his phone with a sigh and continued his apartment hunting. Zhongli’s advice had never done him wrong. It couldn’t hurt to just search, right? If he could just get another job, he might be able to save up to buy his own apartment, and not have to rent. Working two jobs couldn’t be all that bad. Right? He had to find a way. Any other way.
He must’ve been searching for a while, because before he knew it the door opened.
“I’m back with the pizza!” Venti yelled. Xiao slammed his laptop shut.
“Hehe, sorry for startling you,” he apologized, setting the pizza down on the table in front of Xiao. Just the smell of the greasy food made his stomach hurt. Yuck.
“I… got you a cookie pizza, if you wanted it.” Venti set down the second box.
“I don’t—“ Xiao inhaled. “Thank you, but I’m not hungry right now. I have to, um, finish this… essay.”
Venti tilted his head as he sat down. Xiao thought it made him look like a sad puppy. He had never wanted to kick something more. “…Are you upset with me? Am I doing something wrong?”
Xiao didn’t reply. He just opened his laptop and continued searching. Was it rude? Maybe a little, but he didn’t really care. Did he?
“Good— good to know. I’m just going to… ah, eat in my room. I’ve got a project due, too.” Venti looked down in disappointment and grabbed a couple of slices of pizza, setting them on a paper plate in silence. He vanished into the hallway, leaving Xiao to continue searching in peace.