Chapter Text
ice ice baby: u need to get over here
ice ice baby: right now
ice ice baby: its important
ice ice baby: plz/?
nerd alert: so important that you need me to come to your house at…
nerd alert: 3am on a school night?
ice ice baby: oh shit
ice ice baby: srry
ice ice baby: did not realize time >-<
nerd alert: …
nerd alert: you’re lucky i’m in the area
nerd alert: open the door
ice ice baby: what?
nerd alert: other door. or window? i guess?
“What the– how did– you–”
“Hello to you, too,” Xingqiu laughs, patting Chongyun on the shoulder as he squeezes around him to get off the windowsill. “Like I said, I was in the area?” It comes out with an upward tilt, halfway to being a question. It is true that he was in the area… He just doesn’t really have a decent explanation for why he was in the area. At 3AM on a school night.
“You know I have a door, right?”
“Didn’t wanna disturb your family.”
“So you used the window ?”
“You have a fire escape,” Xingqiu answers. By this point, he’s settled down on top of Chongyun’s bed (after shucking off his shoes and jacket, of course) and makes himself comfortable, hugging the plushie of Ice Bear close to his chest.
“I live on the twelfth floor,” Chongyun answers, deadpan.
“Light exercise?” Xingqiu sticks his tongue out when Chongyun continues to squint at him in silence. “You were saying something important…?” he prompts, hoping to guide Chongyun off the current interrogation.
Chongyun’s eyes light up, and Xingqiu smothers his snicker into the top of Ice Bear’s head at how easily he’s distracted, looking nearly like a mad scientist when the moonlight makes his hair shine almost white as his hands skitter across his desk, clutching at piles of papers. All he’s missing is a lab coat and maybe an Erlenmeyer flask.
“Right!” he says, resurfacing with an iPad. “Look at this!”
“The iPad is really breaking the vibes, you know,” Xingqiu says. “You should try printing it out, get some mysterious stains on it — would really flesh out the whole conspiracy theorist theme you have going on.”
“What?” Chongyun asks, tilting his head to the side. “Whatever, just take a look at this,” he says, dismissing Xingqiu’s ramblings to shove the screen closer to his face.
Other than the bridge of his own nose, Xingqiu can make out some blur of blue, maybe brown before his eyes go cross-eyed and his vision blurs. “Play it again,” he says, this time pushing the iPad away to a reasonable distance.
Chongyun presses play, simultaneously shoving into Xingqiu’s side so they can sit side by side and watch the screen together.
There’s a scream as the camera shakes, falling in a blur of colors before falling onto the ground with a loud crack.
“Sounds expensive,” Xingqiu mutters, only to be shushed by his friend.
Somehow, it’s managed to land so it’s still recording the sky and the smoke that billows up into it. There’s a cacophony of background noise that Xingqiu has trouble distinguishing, and then…
Chongyun pauses the video right as ZhenYu, the Rain Cutter, somersaults across the screen in a blur of blue and gold.
Xingqiu blinks and hugs Ice Bear tighter. He tries not to breathe too hard, but it suddenly feels as if every sound in the room is amplified ten times over. “This again? You really called me all the way over here to fanboy over some superhero?”
“I’m not just fanboying ,” Chongyun snorts, rolling his eyes. “Here, look right here!” he continues, pointing to the center of the screen. There’s a smudge of yellow there, peeking out from between the folds of ZhenYu’s robes.
“A mustard stain?”
Xingqiu laughs as Chongyun shoves him into the wall. He lets himself relax a little bit.
“No, you idiot. A logo. Our school logo,” Chongyun says, swiveling around to stare at Xingqiu eagerly.
“Are you sure?” Xingqiu presses closer, squinting down at the screen. He can feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise as Chongyun’s breath falls softly across them. “Kinda hard to make out.”
“No way, I’m sure of it,” Chongyun says, tugging the iPad back into his own lap. “It’s clearly a diamond shape, and what reason would the ZhenYu have to be wearing our school uniform, unless he goes to our school?”
Xingqiu swallows.
“You think ZhenYu, savior of Liyue City, is a high school student, specifically one at our school?” He forces out a shallow laugh. “Come on Mr. Detective. We have school soon. Let’s go to bed.”
Chongyun huffs but rolls over to chuck the iPad on the floor anyway, sinking into the covers. “Why were you out so late, anyway?” he asks around a yawn, eyelids already fluttering shut as sleep rolls in.
“Just on a walk,” Xinqiu answers in a whisper. He closes his eyes, too, and focuses on the sound of Chongyun’s breathing, the crinkling of the bedsheets as their chests rise and fall in unison, each breath a little slower than the last.
“This far?” Chongyun’s voice sounds distant, now, like he’s whispering a secret into a well.
“Mhmm,” is all Xingqiu is able to manage in response before sleep overtakes him, too.
–
Loud.
Dark.
Wet.
Burning.
Can you burn underwater?
Xingqiu has no idea, but his body is on fire, even as the water drags him down, deeper and deeper. His lungs burn as he screams for help, but every shout just brings more water into them until he’s suffocating. No matter how hard he kicks his legs and thrashes his arms, he falls deeper and deeper down until the light is slowly fading. Every time he does manage to break the surface, the waterfall pours down on his shoulders and head, forcing him under once again as his ears reel from the sound, the raging torrent.
Help me , he tries to say. His mouths form bubbles, not words.