Chapter Text
The winds that blow from the north of Mondstat are once again cementing their infamy with the chill they carry, and early February’s midnight cold is a slap to Aether’s face after being in the warmth of the campus library for the whole night.
His sleepiness is momentarily staved off as he mentally curses at himself for not getting his heavy winter coat; the sweater and light scarf he’s currently wearing are absolutely not enough for this weather, and he has half a mind to go back into the library to beg to stay for the night. The only thing keeping him from doing so is Lisa’s uncharacteristically stern face when she essentially kicked him out, and told him to go sleep after hours of studying. Aether deeply appreciated the concern, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her that he barely got anything done and spent most of his time zoned out staring at the blocks of text.
Might as well get some sleep and try again tomorrow. He covers his mouth and nose with the scarf and starts walking as fast as he can to his dorm. It’s not that far, and while the cold makes his movements stiff and slow, there’s no real danger of dying to frostbite.
Aether makes it inside his dorm building and almost melts into the floor from how warm it is. Keeping his eyes open is proving troublesome, and it takes him not a small amount of effort to climb the stairs to the second floor where his dorm is situated.
There are some strange sounds coming from the direction of his dorm, but he doesn’t pay them too much attention as he’s already half-dreaming of his bed. As he’s unlocking the door though, Aether finally registers what exactly he’s hearing, and he lets go of the door handle as if it burned him, all thoughts of sleep eradicated from his mind.
It seems like his roommate thought he’d be gone for the night, and took the opportunity to hook up with someone.
Mortified, he quickly retreats to the stairwell and sits down heavily on the first step. Head in his hands, he considers what to do:
1- Aether could just wait for them to be done, but he has no idea what they’ll do after that and they could very much go for another round.
2- Even if they.. finish.. soon, he’d rather throw himself out of a window before walking in and pretending like he didn’t know what was happening.
3- He can go back to the library and try to convince Lisa to let him sleep there just for this night, but she’s probably already locked up the building and Aether didn’t want to trek through the cold again.
4- And then, there is always the option of seeing which of his friends can house him for the night.
The more he thinks about it, (and the longer he hears his roommate and their lover continue to go at it – because even a couple meters distance isn’t enough thanks to the thin walls) the more desperate Aether gets and the more it seems like he’ll have to go with the last option.
He sighs and gets his phone out of his backpack. Thankfully, the battery is at 34% percent, so that’s one less worry. Scrolling through his contacts by alphabetical order, dread pools in his stomach as he remembers that there was a huge party happening tonight in one of the clubs near campus, and while Aether had to decline in favor of trying to be productive and actually study, pretty much all of his friends went.
All except one… As he reaches the bottom of the list, his spiral into a mental breakdown stops momentarily as he is faced with the name of a person who Aether knows declines every party invitation.
If you were to look up the definition of “hermit” in a dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Xiao. In the couple of months that Aether has known him, Xiao has never once mentioned anything about an outing unless it was in context of him declining it; he avoided crowds and despised parties most of all.
This should make him the prime candidate to save Aether from his predicament as he will almost definitely be home, but he hesitates. It took a good amount of time for Xiao to start to open up a bit, and while Aether would like to think that they’re somewhat close, they aren’t exactly best friends. They share a few classes, hang out with some mutual friends pretty regularly, and often study together to help each other out. No more, no less. This problem only gets more complicated once his hopeless crush gets factored in..
And to add to it, a small, infuriating, (and lovesick) voice in Aether’s head keeps telling him that maybe, just maybe, his feelings could be mutual. This stupid and clearly illogical voice lists the following reasons as evidence to its case:
- Aether has caught Xiao staring multiple times, and every time he has, Xiao immediately looks away – faintly blushing.
- Out of all the times Aether has seen him smile, most if not all of them have been towards Aether.
- He’s accidentally heard a snippet of conversation between Xiao and Venti, and Venti was teasing him about having a crush on a “certain new transfer student”
- Aether has also seen Ganyu not-so-sneakily give Xiao a thumbs up and an encouraging smile when she caught sight of them studying together at the library.
But still, all of these have explanations not involving a crush: Aether’s hair is very prone to having leaves and such get caught in it, so Xiao could have just been looking at that. He could also very well be just as smiley with other friends in private. Furthermore, Aether is far from the only transfer student this year, and Ganyu could have simply been providing moral support for his studies.
Aether snaps out of his thoughts as he realizes that all of this still doesn’t give him any idea of how Xiao would react to him asking if he can sleep at his dorm for the night, so really he’s back to square one.
He resists the urge to just curl up on the stairway and weep out of frustration and exhaustion. Xiao isn’t a cruel person; he’ll at least try to find him a solution if he himself can’t help Aether. At this point, he’s perfectly willing to sleep on the floor of his dorm if it means actually getting some rest.
He presses the call button next to Xiao’s contact name before he can think too much about it. The line rings for a few times; meaning that he’s most probably asleep and that Aether is disturbing him. Great.
He picks up on the fifth ring.
“Aether? Did something happen?” Xiao’s sleep-addled voice comes through, and Aether must truly be sleep deprived since he thinks that it’s the cutest thing he’s ever heard. Thankfully, he isn’t delirious enough to let it slip.
“Hi. No, I'm okay, don't worry. Sorry for waking you up, but I have somewhat of a favor to ask.” His hand drifts to the back of his neck; nervous tick manifesting even when no one can see him.
“Hm. It’s okay, what is it?” The sleepy softness of his voice is going to kill Aether.
Get it together . “I uh kinda got locked out of my dorm, and my roommate isn’t available for the night.”
A small pause. “Right. There’s a party happening tonight.” Then in an almost mumble, “no wonder the hall is quiet.”
Aether was not about to correct him on his assumption, so he just lets him assume. “Yeah so I was just wondering if I can crash at your dorm for tonight? I’m really sorry for springing this on you so suddenly so it’s okay if I can’t.” Although his problem is going to get a lot worse if Xiao can’t house him for the night.
“Oh. Yeah no it's fine.”
A small laugh escapes him in relief, but he might just cry. “Thank you so much. I’ll literally sleep on the floor.”
“You’re welcome, but–” a yawn interrupts him, “but sleeping on the floor won’t be necessary.”
Before Aether can ask him what exactly that means, Xiao ends the call.
He stares at his phone for a few seconds as he fully processes what just happened. His face warms a little as he realizes that he’s going to be sharing a room for a whole night with his crush. Oh god.
With a sigh, he pockets his phone, shoulders his bag, and goes back downstairs. He dreads trekking through the cold again, but at least there’s warmth and sleep at the end of this dark and chilly tunnel.
Thankfully, Xiao’s dorm is not very far from his own, but his teeth still end up chattering slightly by the time he makes it across the distance and up to his door.
Aether takes a deep breath to steady himself and then knocks gently. It’s barely a moment before the door opens and he almost suffers a heart attack on the spot at the sight that greets him.
Xiao’s bedhead makes him look illegally adorable, and his round glasses (since when did he wear glasses?!), sleepy expression, and few-sizes-too-big sweater do not help at all. Aether stomps down on the urge to tackle him in a hug and never let go.
He speaks before Aether has a chance to make a fool out of himself. “Come in; it's freezing outside.”
Right. He walks in and Xiao closes the door behind him. “Thanks. I uh didn’t know you wore glasses.”
Xiao blinks; a little caught by surprise. “Yeah, well I usually wear contacts outside so I don’t have to worry about keeping them clean.”
“Hmm that makes sense, they do look good on you though.” Wait. Oh god, maybe that’s too forward.
Breaking eye contact, Xiao replies in a near mumble, “thank you.” He looks back at Aether. “You can put your stuff down wherever you want – I don’t mind.”
Now it could be the faint light of the room and the lack of sleep playing tricks on him, but he can swear that there’s a faint pink to Xiao’s cheeks. Aether obviously doesn’t comment on this, and just replies with a thanks.
A hum is all he gets back as Xiao goes to the bed. Aether sets down his scarf, shoes, and backpack near the door, and tries to take a good look at the room without being obvious.
Xiao’s dorm is smaller than his since it’s a single. Sparsely furnished with only a twin bed pushed to one side, a university-issued desk on the other, and a small boxy closet next to the door, there’s not much to look at besides the stack of textbooks on the desk and a corkboard hung above it. Many sticky notes are pinned on the board, along with a small Asexual flag (of which he’s pleasantly surpirsed to find), and what even seems to be a group picture. Perhaps it's one of Xiao’s family, but Aether can’t tell from this distance.
Xiao himself sits on the edge of the bed and seems to be cleaning his glasses, raising them up to the light of the lamp on the bedside table to assess his work. The quiet atmosphere and the soft warm glow of the lamp reminds Aether of just how tired he is… which brings him to an important point.
“Thanks again for letting me crash here by the way. I’m not sure I could have gone anywhere else.” He starts.
Xiao glances up at him before going back to the glasses. “It’s no problem really.”
“But what did you mean by ‘sleeping on the floor won’t be necessary?’ Do you have a spare mattress?” Aether asks this, but he can clearly see the empty space under the bed so he’s quite lost.
“There's enough room in the bed for both of us.” Xiao says casually. He sets the newly-cleaned glasses on the bedside table and doesn’t meet Aether’s eyes. “Only if you’re comfortable with that of course.”
OH. Yeah that’s. That’s fine. Wait, he needs to say something. “Oh uh yeah I-I don’t mind. I just don't want to intrude more than I already am.” He mentally pats himself on the back for managing a coherent reply.
Xiao looks up at him then. “You’re not intruding by needing sleep.” He glances at the tile flooring. “And I think you’d get sick from sleeping on the floor.”
Can’t argue with that. “Yeah you’re probably right.”
Xiao just hums, places his glasses on the bedside table, and burrows under the covers – shuffling close to the wall so that there’s room for Aether on the other side.
Delaying the inevitable would only make things awkward, and he is already dangerously close to falling asleep on the spot, so it doesn’t take much mental preparation to get himself in the bed.
Most of that sleep evaporates as soon as he lies down facing Xiao though, because despite him being right about there being enough space for both of them, they are still very close to each other. There are maybe ten centimeters keeping them apart.
Aether is grateful to the fact that Xiao’s eyes are closed at the moment. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing trying to explain why there was a blush creeping up his face.
Although… well, it may be the half-light of the lamp playing tricks on him once again, but the tips of Xiao’s ears almost seem to have a red tint to them. Other than that, however, he looks… angelic; his expression one of contentment and peace.
This may be the first time Aether sees him this relaxed. Xiao is usually known for his stone-cold expression that deters people away, and while he can’t lie and say that he wasn’t intimidated at first, any doubts about his character disappeared from Aether’s mind after their first meeting:
He’d offhandedly mentioned how he needed to cram six weeks worth of missed classes –due to a family emergency with his sister– for the make-up exams the following week, and Xiao had offered to help him since he knew the professor from the previous year and had an idea of what is put on the exams. His help proved to be invaluable; despite them being in the same year, Aether was a new transfer to the university and didn’t yet know the type of questions asked on tests. After doing very well on the make-up, he decided that he needed to thank Xiao somehow. While Aether had offered to help him in return at any point in the future should he ask, he was much less receptive to receiving help as opposed to giving it. Still, Aether was determined to show his gratitude in a tangible way.
Xingqiu gave him the idea of thanking Xiao by gifting him a plate of his favorite food, and after not-so-subtly asking Ganyu about it (who seemed strangely eager to help), Aether had ended up spending hours in the communal kitchen trying to perfect the Almond Tofu recipe she gave him. It was all worth it at the end when he got to see Xiao’s smile for the first time – his face lighting up with a small upwards curve of the lips. At the time, Aether had the thought that it was the most precious thing he’s ever seen, and thinking of it now, he decides that it's still true.
At this point, he is confident enough to say that they’re friends, and he’d like to think that they’re somewhat close, but they've never been this physically close. Due to the tiny distance between them and the blanket they’re sharing, they're bound to end up touching at one point and the last thing he wants is to make Xiao uncomfortable.
The ongoing whirlpool of thoughts in Aether’s mind slows down when Xiao blinks his eyes open and catches him staring.
He shows no adverse reaction to this, instead, his voice is unguarded and soft when he asks, “can you turn off the lamp?”
Aether hums an affirmation before he turns on his side to find the switch for the lamp and turn it off. The room is instantly painted with darkness, and it takes a minute for his eyes to adjust.
Turning back to face Xiao, he can only see his silhouette outlined by the faint moonlight streaming in from the window.
“Thank you. Goodnight Aether,” he says, sounding just a second away from falling asleep.
“Goodnight.” Aether replies in a near whisper.
It doesn’t take long for him to notice the rhythmic rise and fall of Xiao’s silhouette. The comfortable warmth of the blanket along with the faint sounds of the wind picking up outside melt all remaining worries in his mind. Exhaustion and sleep wash over him in waves, and he lets himself get drifted away.
The sun has yet to rise when Aether rouses from sleep some time later. He feels perfectly cozy and not cold at all even though the blanket doesn't cover much of him anymore; something warm has curled up against his back and holds him loosely at the waist. In his half asleep state, he turns over to bring the warmth closer, throwing his own arm and leg around it.
Aether doesn’t expect the bundle in his arms to huddle closer and hold him more tightly. Lucidity trickles in as he remembers where he is and realizes what exactly just happened, but there is not much room in his sleep-addled brain for any reaction other than a feeling of happiness, and a quiet, revelatory “ oh”.
They’ll talk this out when the sun is higher in the sky. For now though, both slumber serenely in each other’s arms – worries and nightmares many realms away.