Chapter Text
The nation of freedom, wine and wind feels exactly the same as the city of contracts, yet it feels too different. The so-called city of freedom feels like a prison to him, the wine smell he’d been told would fill the country is not there and he can’t tell if the wind is as strong as he expected from the inside of the car. He turns his head to the window, quietly observing the meadows his father is driving by. Mondstadt is a big country, but most of it is full of meadows, like the one they are driving through. He sat in silence, sitting in an awkward and probably bad for his health way as he watched the trees on the side of the road. There weren’t any of his favorite flowers between the grass, they only grow in Liyue. Taking his phone out of the pockets of his sweater for the umpteenth time since they left Liyue Harbor, he checks the hour again. There’s another long 3 hours till they enter the actual city.
“How do you like it so far?” His father asks from the driver's seat.
“Hm.” He takes another look outside before replying. The high mountains from Liyue and the bright orange rocks are gone, Mondstadt is rather a plain area. “I hate it.”
His father hums at his side.
...
Zhongli looks at his own reflection on the retrovisor. He didn’t have time to do his make-up today, so his eyeballs are showing. He feels naked without his red eyeliner. His hair doesn’t look as clean as he would have liked it to look and he forgot to tie it up before leaving, it’s been annoying him and getting in his eyes the whole roadtrip. Moving out has been stressful and his face perfectly reflects it.
“After we are done getting our boxes inside, you can choose where to eat for the night, alright?” He suggests, hoping it will make Xiao happy.
He hasn’t said a word since they got in the car, but even did he speak when they stopped to eat. It's not like he minds, Xiao is rather a quiet person and he doesn't want to cause him more distress by forcing him to speak. Zhongli tears his eyes apart from the road ahead for a second to look at the boy, who is sitting in the most uncomfortable way he could have found.
"There's no Wanmin restaurant in Mondstadt." He replies.
"It's a chain with locals all around Teyvat, don't worry about that. Do you want to eat outside or ta…?"
"Take out." Xiao cuts him off. He never realizes how often he is cutting people off midspeech, so he doesn't mind it when his son interrupts him. "It's going to be full of people and I won't have my table."
Oh, he had not even considered that. Xiao tends to pick a place he's comfortable in anywhere he goes, so he has a table to call his at every restaurant or café. He hadn't thought about it when moving out, but all of the places Xiao felt safe at were not going to be there anymore. The smile that had appeared on his face when the boy replied quickly fades as he thinks about the long list of things that are probably annoying the teen and that he didn't even notice.
"Tomorrow, we can go to all the cafés and restaurants we find and you can get a table at each." He suggests.
There's no reply. He sighs.
"I'm sorry, I know you don't want to do this." He says, sounding almost defeated. "I'm really sorry you can't stay at Liyue, I know this is hard for you. But I will work hard to make it as easy as possible, understand?"
"There's nothing that you can make easier." Xiao complains. He doesn't sound mad, just tired and stressed, but his words hurt. It's nothing he didn't know but nothing he wanted to hear either. "My routines are gone, all of them. Waking up, breakfast and brushing my teeth it's gone, all the furniture is going to be placed differently and my room isn't going to be the same, not even the walls are going to be the same color. Going to buy anything requires a new path in streets I don't even know, and don't get me started on school. I was finally starting to unmask, and my friend group understood me and did not think I was weird at all. And now, it's all gone. There's not even a friend group anymore, and since everyone is going to think I'm weird I won't have any possibilities of getting new friends. Come on, try to make it easier. You can't."
He doesn't reply to that. As saddening as it is, it's true that he can't make people at school like Xiao better or make the streets be organized exactly like Liyue's.
"You are right, I can't." Zhongli accepts "But I'm going to be here with you, alright? You know you can come to me no matter what, right?"
Though it takes some seconds longer than expected, a response comes from Xiao.
"Dad, I don't want to speak about this."
He hums again as he keeps driving. He would have liked other replies a lot more but it’s not the worst. Perhaps Xiao will want to talk about the situation later, so he will give him time. He deserves to be given time after all, he’s the one who was forced to move. He can’t help but feel guilty for causing him so much distress. He hasn’t even had the chance to explain the reason behind their moving. He sighs and opens his mouth to say something, closing it again without saying a word since he can’t really think of the right thing to say. They had another 3 or 4 hours to drive before leaving the meadows and making it to the actual city, he thinks, and they are going to be some long 3 or 4 hours.
…
Mondstadt was definitely smaller than Liyue, he thought once his father drove the car inside the city. He knew that the city was as developed as others around Teyvat, yet not comparable to Liyue or Fontaine. Mondstadters had opted to keep some of the city’s old buildings in certain places. Sure, the city had grown a lot since those buildings were built, but they still thought that living the center of the town remained as it had always been, but the rest of it, the new built areas, were just as full as modern blocks of flats and even some skyscrapers in some of the richest neighborhoods. He didn’t like it, but at least it was something he could get used to. He tore his eyes apart from the screen of his phone to look at his dad. Perhaps he had been too rough on him, even if it’s true it was hard for him to move out as an autistic kid, it’s not like his father was doing it on purpose to upset him. He knew he had all the right to be mad, both him and Zhongsli knew that perfectly well, but he didn’t want to actually hurt his dad. He readjusts his posture and sits in a definitely healthier and more comfortable way, taking his headphones out to speak.
“Where are we going to live?” He tries to force his voice to make it sound like he’s interested. It’s not like he isn’t, he’s just not the best at tone.
“Oh. We are staying close to the oldest part of the city, near the old wall.” His father explains “We are still living in a flat, but it’s smaller than the one in Liyue. I hope it doesn’t upset you.”
“There’s no use in getting a big flat for just the two of us.” He sounds sadder than he intends to be. Xiao wasn’t really coping well with the fact his older sister was going to live in uni for the next few years. “Can we call Ganyu when we get to the house?”
“Of course.” They remain quiet for a bit until Zhongli breaks the silence “Are you going to help me unpack and carry the things inside? We just need some furniture for today, not all of it. It’s alright if you don’t want to, I know you are tired.”
“You are tired as well. We will do it together and then…” He taps the car’s glove compartment with his fingers, kinda uncomfortable “We can order food from Wanmin…” They become quiet again, but this time it is Xiao who speaks. “I’m sorry for being uncooperative.” He leans into the glove compartment and rests his chest against the hard material. “I know you are trying your best.”
Zhongli opens his mouth and looks at him. He stops the conversation, just to park the car in a street close to their new house, and waits on his seat before opening the door.
“Xiao, I know this is extremely hard for you. I don’t need you to cooperate with anything, I can and will take care of us myself.” He tells him, looking at his eyes. “Pick your suitcases, will you? Let’s get this whole unpacking thing over with soon.”
…
Their new flat is indeed smaller. The kitchen and the living room are the same room, not separated by any wall, and the dining table is the first thing one could see upon entering the house. Xiao’s new room is smaller than his old one, but it seems big enough to fit his wardrobe, bed and desk perfectly. The white walls make him feel sick, he needs them painted and covered with posters as soon as possible. That will have to wait, obviously; he has to conform with sickening naked walls painted in white and a sleep bag for the night. He and his dad are almost done putting the boxes inside, he is just getting two of the last boxes in as the other calls Wanmin and orders the same thing they always got.
“Are we going to eat on the floor?” He asks, taking the box to the pile they have made with all of them.
“Are you in the mood to unpack the sofa and a table?” Zhongli replies, to which he hums. He is not in the mood in the slightest. “We will unpack the bigger stuff tomorrow.”
They do eat on the floor once the food is finally delivered. They try to chat about whatever, and it soon turns to Xiao talking about one of his special interests. He stops speaking to keep munching on his tofu (because I’m basic and I like it when a character has THEIR dish BESIDES i think we all agree that his love for tofu is an autistic trait, don’t we?).
“Dad...” he says after drinking from a bottle of water and placing it back on the ground “What about your boyfriend? Are you going to break up since we aren’t in Liyue anymore?”
Now, he’s not the best at reading people, but the way Zhongli blushes and chokes on his food is way too easy to read.
“Ajax and I aren’t boyfriends, Xiao. Don’t you think I’m too old for that?” He smiles. Xiao doesn’t say anything but he grins when the name gets mentioned, since he didn’t say his name at all. Good to know his dad equals ‘boyfriend’ to ‘Ajax.’ “We are close, but not like that, and we are both coping well with the mov…”
“Ganyu showed me screenshots of the things you comment on his Instagram posts.” The boy mentions, making the other’s blush grow bigger. “So, what are you going to do now that you moved?”
“Ah…” He sighs “Ajax and I aren’t dating per se, understood? It’s true that we are more than friends, but not that much for him to move with us or for us to stay with him in Liyue. It’s not ideal, but well… It is what it is, right? You also had to leave important people behind, right? It’s the same, there’s no need to make it anything bigger than it is.”
“I’m sorry you had to leave him.” He tries to make his tone sound as empathic as possible.
Zhongli hums at his side.
…
He tries not to show how sad he is, not in front of Xiao. The kid doesn’t know the real reason they moved, and he isn’t planning on telling him either. In a world like theirs, sometimes it’s better for people to wait and see things by themselves instead of telling them. He doesn’t need to tell him that it’s not like his boss actually transferred him to another country, but that it was him who asked for the transfer. He doesn’t need to know that the reason they aren’t in Liyue is because his mind can’t take it anymore…
In a world in which you don’t know when you are going to remember your past, you never know when the place you love and cherish the most will turn into a living hell. As a teen, whenever teachers mentioned anything about soulmates and how they worked, his heart used to flatter in hopes he would find his and, with his soulmate, gain back memories from a past life in which, perhaps, everything was better. He grew up hoping to meet that person, he outgrew his hopes after having two kids with someone he wasn’t able to love that much or who could love him much in return either, and he told himself that the journey of searching for a soulmate wasn’t for him. There’s a small percentage of people without soulmates, and he had learned to accept that he was one of those. Until he found Ajax in some date app. And with Ajax, Zhongli’s memories came back all at once. Where he thought there would be pretty memories of him and Ajax holding hands or going on picnics, he saw war, chaos and destruction casted upon Liyue by no one else than himself. But, how was he going to tell his kid that they needed to leave the country only so he could go out without remembering the way he himself shaped the country? How could he take Xiao to school without remembering how many Liyue citizens died by his own hands? It had been eons ago, but it shone clearly in his mind. It’s not like he wanted to leave Liyue, he had to. And, without Liyue, his long-awaited new-found soulmate was far from his reach again.
“I wish I could have stayed with him a little longer.” He acknowledges “I’m certainly going to miss him.” He thinks whether he should open up with the boy or not. Xiao is almost an adult, he trusts he is mature enough to understand him. However, he isn’t so sure of how will react.
“Can we call Ganyu before going to bed?” The sound of his voice breaking the silence makes relief flow through Zhongli’s body.
“Pick the phone, I will clean the dishes.” The man stands up with their dirty plates in hand as Xiao marks the number (he knows Ganyu’s by heart), glad to see the boy smiling a bit after such a long day.
...
His new form teacher has, apparently, asked to meet him on Monday during the first period. While he loves the idea of missing an hour of class, he doesn’t deem himself to be able to hold a hour long conversation with an adult (not only that, she was also a teacher) he has never seen. He has tried to get his father to come with him, telling him that surely the teacher wants to talk with both of them, but the man hasn’t given in yet and it doesn’t look like he’s going to. Their car is parked in the school’s parking lot. He still has about ten minutes to convince his dad, but he can feel himself about to give up. There’s people already walking to the building with their friends and he knows he is going to break down if any of his new classmates notices he needs his father to walk with him at school. He starts to tap the buttons of his fidget cube much faster, making Zhongli grow annoyed.
“Xiao, you know I wouldn’t make you go speak with your teacher by yourself if I thought you can’t.” There’s no reply, just the sound of the buttons going faster. When he looks at him, he finds his eyes are wide open and starting to get tearful. He watches quietly with a frown on his face as the boy leans in and holds his head with shaky hands. “Xiao, breathe easy.” The man is forcing his tone to sound as soothing as possible, but it doesn’t make any difference for the boy. “We’ll wait till everyone’s inside and then I will go with you, is that alright?”
It takes some seconds for him to process what he’s being told, but he calms down after understanding it. Freeing his head from his hands, he nods without looking up yet. It’s not a bad idea. In fact, he’s really glad his dad could come up with it so fast without even having to tell him he didn’t wanna be seen walking to school accompanied. He lets go of the air his lungs were unconsciously holding and takes a deep breath after. Today will be okay, he tells himself, there’s no need for it to go wrong.
“Thank you.” He mumbles, starting to fidget with the toy again.
“No need.” His father smiles softly.
…
It’s been around 10 minutes, maybe 15, since he and his dad walked into the teacher’s office. He’s barely looked up at the woman ever since, but he has caught how she looks. She’s not really old, her face actually looks surprisingly young. Her blonde hair looks rather soft and she’s styled it in a ponytail for the day being, with a dark blue ribbon wrapped around it. He’s been avoiding looking at her eyes, but he is almost sure they are either blue or green. Her hourglass figure is dressed in blue and white, and either she’s naturally tall or she’s got high-heels on.
She introduced herself as “Jean” and she will not only be his form teacher, but also the English teacher. The woman is currently speaking with his dad, but he doesn’t really wanna listen, so he’s entertaining himself with his cube. If there’s something he dislikes more than being autistic at school, it’s hearing adults talking about how he should be autistic at school. He isn’t paying attention, but he can guess what they are discussing. Which stims are allowed and which aren’t, how they are probably going to force him back into classes after meltdowns, how he’s still going to be evaluated over eye contact when exposing projects, how he can’t take his sound-blocking headphones to classes, and how certain teachers are not going to allow his fidget toys and he’s going to have to “deal with it.” Nothing he wants to hear about.
“Xiao, are you listening?” Oh, fuck. He straightens his back and quits making sounds with the fidget cube for a bit after his father calls his name. Both adults are looking at him as if expecting an answer… It’s a pity he didn’t hear the question.
“Sorry, uhm… What did you ask?”
“Is there any procedure you would like us to take if you have a meltdown?” The teacher repeats.
“Uhm…” That’s a nice question, honestly. “It would be great if I could get out of the class and come back when I deem myself ready. Or if someone could come with me to make sure I don’t harm myself. And I don’t want anyone to touch me unless it’s to make sure I don’t pull my hair too strongly.” That seems like enough for now. If he thinks he needs to add something, he’ll do it later. “Will I be allowed to have my headphones with me?” He asks.
“Hm, you can keep them in your bag if you’d like. You can use them but make sure you still listen to the lectures.” She smiles at him “You can also use stimulative toys but don’t distract the rest of the class with them.”
Xiao nods and comes back to his fidgeting while the two adults discuss something else. He doesn’t need to say much for the rest of the hour, except for a few things about his shutdows. When the bell rings, Zhongli stands up and says goodbye to his son and to the woman in front, leaving them alone. Jean smiles at him, sweetly, and Xiao nods when she offers to walk him to his class.
“Uhm, miss… I don’t have to introduce myself in front of the whole class, do I?” He stops in the middle of the corridor, suddenly nervous. It’s not something he’d thought about but now that he has, it’s terrifying.
“Oh, uh… I guess you can do it from your seat.” He swallows, still nervous. Introducing himself to the class it’s going to be horrible no matter where he does it from. “When I checked before, there was a seat at the back of the classroom that you could take. I’m sure you and your seatmate will be good friends.”
At least it’s at the back of the class, he thinks, that’s my favorite spot. He hopes… He’s begging to the Archons, actually, that his new seatmate will be nice or, at least, not a dickhead. At his last school, everyone had their own desk and he didn’t have a seatmate, so he doesn’t really know what to do. Is it the same as the people that used to sit behind him or at his sides? The difference is barely a few centimeters, he knows, but maybe the fact that their desks will be directly touching will affect things… He’s been preparing for the moment he has to make new friends, really hard actually. He's searched it online, he's asked Ganyu and Zhongli for help, he read some books… But, what if it wasn't enough? Well, he sighs when they arrive at the classroom, he's about to find out.
He finds the free desk really quickly and goes to sit there. The seatmate he’s so scared about smiles at him and waves without saying a word and he's quick to return the gesture. She's a blonde girl and her eyes are a pretty kind of green. Her clothing style is what stands out the most for Xiao. The girl is wearing a long-sleeve shirt, kinda oversized and with black and violet stripes all over, and she’s got a black sleeveless t-shirt on top. Now that he thinks of it, the girl has a lot of black on her: the two ribbons holding the twin tails she has are black, her nails are painted black (just like his, so that’s nice), one of her ears has a lot of piercings in it, but they are all black instead of the usual silver, and her (obviously black as well) jeans are torn apart in some areas, where black tights cover her skin. It’s a pretty outfit, he likes it. Xiao is also the type to wear everything that color, he’s also wearing all black at the moment. He will have to ask her where to buy clothes in Mondstadt, hers are really nice.
“We've got a new student with us this year, everyone.” The teacher’s voice catches his attention and he stops looking at the girl’s clothes to listen, since it seems he’s going to have to speak soon. “Would you mind introducing yourself, dear?”
“Uhm, well…” The nickname makes him uncomfortable and the weird feeling it causes him makes him forget what he was going to say. “My name’s Xiao, and I moved from Liyue. I’ve never been to Mondstadt before so I’m, uh, really nervous about everything… And I’m also autism. I mean, I have autistic. Wait, no, fuck.” He’s about to scream. “I’m autistic, that’s it.” He wanted to say it fast so people didn’t pay attention to it, because it’s not something many people understand, but now everyone surely listened clearly. “I’m not really good at making friends, but I hope we will get along well.” He says, facing down with his hands shaking slightly.
“Very well! So, now, I have to give you these papers and you shall turn them in tomorrow, you can start covering them now. There’s not much else we have to do today, and I doubt any of you brought your textbooks, so you can just chat the rest of the hour.” As she explains, she gives the students in the first row a bunch of papers so they can pass them to those behind. “Make sure you don’t make much noise!”
He picks a pen out of his bag and waits till the papers arrive to him and the girl, ready to cover it.
“Hey, hi!” The voice of his new seatmate calls for him, distracting him from his task. When he turns to face her, he sees her hand reaching out waiting to be shaken. Awkwardly, he raises his own hand and shakes the girl’s. “My name’s… Everyone calls me Fischl. Or Fish! Whatever you like.” Fischl? Sounds strange, but really Mondstadt-like. He likes it. “So, you’ve never been to Mondstadt, am I right?”
“Yeah, I just said it.” He mutters.
“That’s great, I get to show you everything around!” Oh, he wasn’t expecting her to be like that. Are they friends already? He barely introduced himself… Oh, man, he feels so lost. “Do you know your neighborhood's name?”
“No, but it’s close to the old city.”
“Oh, great! I live more in the outskirts!” Ah, great. He doesn’t really know what to do with the info. “You are from Liyue, right? Where from? I heard it’s a huge country.”
“Well, uhm, I was born in Jueyun Karst, but we moved to Liyue Harbor when I was a toddler.”
“Oh, oh, I’ve seen pictures of Jueyun Karst!” She smiles wide “I think it’s pretty. And, why’d you move all the way here?”
“My dad’s job.”
“Oh, really? Where does he work?”
“At a funeral parlor.” Are his replies being too short? Perhaps, so he tries to add something else. He opens his mouth but there really isn’t much to say about a funeral parlor, at least nothing pleasant, so he closes it again in hopes Fischl didn’t notice.
“And what about your mom’s job?”
“Uh, they’re divorced.” He explains. Oh, no. Now she’s going to say she’s sorry, when he doesn’t really care and definitely doesn’t know how to handle situations in which people apologize for something that isn’t their fault in the slightest. “They broke up when we moved to Liyue Harbor.”
“Oh my lord, mine too!” Oh, that’s an… interesting reaction. “So, you live with just your father? That’s cool. It’s only me and my mom at home as well!”
“Well, my sister too.” This is probably the most he’s ever contributed to small talk in his life. “We lived with her in Liyue, but she’s in uni and she stayed there.” (N/A : who would have said making the character autistic makes writing small talk so much easier omg.)
“That’s good for her, what’s she studying?” He’s about to reply when the other cuts him off. “You know what, doesn’t matter. What do you wanna study? What took you to the arts major?” She’s really, really talkative. Not like he minds, the more she speaks the less he has to.
“I wanna be a clothes designer.” He says, really glad she asked. “Fashion is a special interest of mine.”
“That’s cool! Tell me about it whenever you want.” She says, making him smile. “I wanna be a comic illustrator, and write a famous fantasy saga.”
“Oh… You can also tell me about it if you want.” His smile remains on his face. He wasn’t expecting the girl to talk this much, but he finds himself relieved to know she’s. It’s good to know that he’s not going to have to talk a lot and that Fischl still wants to know more about him after he pretty much embarrassed himself in his introduction. He looks as her hands, decorated with black rings, gesture messily when she starts a new question.
“Oh, maybe I shouldn’t ask this but, uh… How was it moving?” Before he can answer about how stressful it was, she adds information to the question. “Like, are your friends still friends with you? I hope so… Oh, lord, you didn’t have a partner back there, did you? Man, that would be horrible… Or even worse, you haven’t found your soulmate yet, have you? If I’d to move after finding mine, I wouldn’t be able to take it. Not at all, you know, not in the slightest. I’d spent full days crying, lord…”
Ah, yeah, the soulmates. True, everyone he’s ever met is waiting to meet theirs. He admits there’s a certain excitement about finding your soulmate, or at the very least, to have your memories brought back upon falling for someone. When he was younger, he was also excited about the possibility of meeting someone like that. A “soulmate.” He used to imagine what his mysterious past life was like every night, and sometimes he and his friends would discuss how they imagined theirs. It has been years since he did any of that, of course.
“I don’t exactly believe in soulmates.” He explains awkwardly, causing Fischl to look at him with a face he can’t quite decipher. “I have never met anyone who’s found theirs, so I started to lose hope.”
“Oh…” She sounds rather disappointed. He didn’t just ruin his first friendship, did he? “I guess… I guess it makes sense. But if you didn’t find them in Liyue, that means fate brought you to Mondstadt to find them! I’m sure. I, Fischl, was put in your path upon the call of fate to help you find your one and only soulmate. How cool is that?”
He gulps, not sure of what to say. It’s not like he was uncomfortable. The girl seemed like someone who made others uncomfortable just by acting like herself, but he was fine with it. After all, most people thought that of him as well. Xiao considered declining the offer, but there truly wasn’t anything bad in having his new friend finding someone for him, especially when he doubts she will remember anything about his yet-to-be-found soulmate in a week. Besides, she seems really excited.
“I guess…” He finally gives in “I think it’s cool. Maybe you are right. I’ve spent my whole life traveling around Liyue and didn’t find anyone, so maybe they are here after all.”
“See?” Before she can add anything else, the bell rings. “Come on now, it’s break time! I have to introduce you to my friends!” Fischl stands up and lifts her schoolbag (surprisingly enough, it’s also completely black) and gestures for him to follow her out of the class, which he does. “You’ll see…” The girl starts to say as they walk down the corridor, with Xiao not exactly knowing where they are headed. He raises his head to listen properly: Fischl¡s tone just got suddenly serious. “I used to live in this one village called Springvale, get it? I only came to the city and to this school three years ago. And it was really hard to get used to it, make friends and all… I didn’t have anyone to help me, but don’t worry. I’m making sure none of that happens to you! Whatever you need, ask me!”
A fond, genuine smile decorates his face, and he swears that if he didn’t hate hugs he would be giving her the biggest one. He mumbles about how thankful he is as his hands begin to flap slightly (he doesn’t bother to hide it, he has the feeling unmasking around Fischl will be rather easy) and she smiles in return. He’s about to say something about how she can always come for help too even if there’s not much he can do when someone calls her name from behind. Fischl and him turn around to face a short, chubby girl walking to them. Her blonde hair is styled similarly to Fischl’s, but hers doesn’t let any hair outside her pigtails. A brown-ish cardigan covers the plain white shirt she has on and the skirt she is wearing reaches below her knees.
“Hey, Fischl!” The girl stops right in front of them, even though she only seems to pay attention to the mondstadter. From up close, Xiao can see her eyes are a lively (perhaps lovely) blue color and that there’s small freckles on her small nose and rosy cheeks. “Have you seen the new student? Jean said she forgot to give him his timetable, and I offered to help, but I don’t even know his name… Do you know where he might be? Or what he looks like? Please, I need to give it to him as soon as possible, it’s really important. He’s going to miss his classes or end up in the wrong ones if I don’t find him! Please, anything would help, really…”
“Calm down, Barbara, would you?” The taller girl smiles as she puts her hands on the other’s shoulder and gently moves her body so she’s facing Xiao. “He’s right there.”
“Oh…” She flushes in embarrassment as Xiao raises a hand awkwardly to say hello and hands him the paper. “Ah, this is your… Timetable, yes. It has the name of your teachers and the classrooms you have to go to. Please, don’t lose it.” Though he thanks her, it doesn’t seem like she hears his words. “Have fun on the first day! I need to go now, I think Venti needs help with something so I’ll go search for him now, bye!” Her steps are quick as she leaves them alone in the corridor, not giving them any time to say goodbye back.
“Who is she?” Xiao mumbles as he reads the timetable. He hums, thinking about how Fischl is going to have to tell him about the teachers.
“Barbara, she’s in the students council.” The girl explains. Her tone shifted slightly, but the boy can’t tell what for or what it means. “Jean’s her sister, so she tries to make her job easier when she can. A sweetheart, really, but she’s really anxious sometimes. She’s a music major, I think she wants to be a singer.”
“Hm, you know a lot about her.”
“She’s just really popular. I mean, she’s pretty, smart and kind and basically every good thing in the book. The people in the music major are all kinda popular, now that I think of it.” Fischl points out. They’ve resumed their walking, but Xiao still doesn’t know where they are heading. “The Venti she went looking for has everyone talking about him, to be honest.”
“What for? What is he like?”
“Overall, he’s pretty and fun. I think he’s kinda… Mid, but I don’t know much about him. He’s really talkative, kinda noisey if you ask me. Not my type of person, as I said. Rather mid.” She guides him into a class which is basically empty besides for some people (he guesses everyone went outside the school, since he knows it’s allowed and there’s coffee shops nearby). “You’ll meet him soon, probably. He loves having the attention on him.” Fischl sighs and points at two boys hanging out close to the window.One of them is sitting on a desk, resting his back on the crystal, while the other is on a chair. “Those there are my friends. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
He follows her as she walks towards the window. His walking has turned stiff, afraid of introducing to someone again or making some mistake when meeting the boys. He stands in front of them, not really knowing what to do with his own body. Where does he have to put his hands? What should he sound like? How long must he talk for? When does he have to stop speaking? What must he expect next? Archons, it’s been a long time since he introduced himself to someone his age like this. Introducing yourself for the class is different, you don’t expect a reply after all. The last time he met someone new before that was probably Ajax, but that wasn’t the same either. He didn’t even have to say anything, he’s dad basically introduced him as his son and that’s it, but Fischl doesn’t know he wants her to introduce him. He raises his head a bit to look at the others, looking down quickly. He’s just now realizing that the fact he’s been quiet for so long just made things worse for himself.
“Hey, Fish, who’s that?” He’s not looking to see who’s asking, but the voice sounds lively and really excited. He hears the girl reply, calling him a friend and explaining he’s new. “Oh, nice! Hey, bro, you seem nervous but don’t worry. We are literally the least scary people in the whole building, we are just a bunch of weirdos, really.” He looks up to find the boy sat on the table holding out his hand. He’s smiling a lot, as well. Quickly he squeezes the hand. “The name’s Bennett! A pleasure…” He slurs the word till the boy realizes he probably wants him to say his name.
“Xiao, I’m Xiao. I’m from Liyue.”
“Oh, I went once! I was little but it was really pretty.” The boy explains. His eyes are a bright green, Xiao notices, and they are really pretty, but he keeps them closed as he speaks for some reason. “I don’t think there’s anywhere in Mondstadt as pretty as Liyue, but we can show you the place so you can judge for yourself.”
“I would rather…” He begins “I think I would like it more if you could just help me move around the city first. I don’t know the name of any street yet.”
“Are you two free this afternoon?” The green-eyed boy asks his friends. They both nod quickly. “We can take you on a tour today if you want!”
“Oh, but I did that with my dad already.” The tone of his own voice surprises him, not expecting to sound so sad.
“Not a problem! Your dad is a foreign as well, right? That means he doesn’t know the best places! We need to take you to the Cat’s Tail, lord. It’s a really hidden café but I promise it’s the best ever! The drinks are so, so good! You need to try them all, we need to take you there. It’s like Mondstadt’s hidden treasure, I swear! And there are cats to play with, even! We’ll take you there today and then we can…” He stops talking, thinking about what else they can do. The other boy, whose name Xiao still doesn’t know of, grabs his sweater and pulls to catch his attention.
“We can take him to the museum.” He suggests, and turns his face to look at the Liyuen. “You are an art major after all, right?”
“I am, but it’s because I wanna be a clothes designer.” He mumbles.
“Oh, then we’ll take you shopping! You dress like Fish, so she can take you to her favorite shops and Razor and I can… Carry your bags!” The other, apparently named Razor, mutters something like “speak for yourself” before the blonde boy resumes his talking “We can have dinner together somewhere if you’d like! Whatcha think?”
Maybe it was too much social interaction with too many new people at once, he considers, but if he declines, maybe the others won’t want to be his friends anymore or will think he’s boring. And only Fischl knows he’s autistc, which might be a problem as well… Maybe he should tell the others, but he can feel that’s not right… Yeah, something tells him that going “I’m autistic'' right after being asked “do you wanna hang out?” probably sounds weird. He’ll tell them later, he decides. Yes, he will go out with them and tell them then. What’s the worst that could happen? Besides, if he gets himself in a friend group during the first day of school, he doesn’t need to worry about the rest of the year, right?
“Is it okay if we have dinner at Wanmin?” He asks. In such an out-of-his-comfort-area kind of day, he’s going to need something slightly familiar to him, even if the whole purpose of going out it’s to try Mondstadt-like things.
“Wanmin? I’ve never been there.” Razor says.
“Me neither!” Bennett’s words make his grip on the bag’s handle grow tighter, maybe he shouldn’t have suggested anything.
“Well, that means you are gonna have to tell us which dishes taste the best.” Fischl smiles at him “I’ve always wanted to go but my parents are so boring, we only ever go to Good Hunter. And it’s not even that good.”
“Excuse me, Good Hunter is really good.”
That seems to start some kind of discussion between Bennett and Fischl that throws him off a bit. He looks at how they argue about it in silence, mouth tense and hands gripping his bag harder. Did he cause that? Are they mad at each other because he talked about restaurants first? He notices Razor trying to catch his attention by gesturing him to get closer, which he does. While the other boy leans back on his chair, with his long grey hair falling behind his shoulders, Xiao kneels on the floor at his side.
“They are like this all the time, don’t worry.” His voice is really calm, as if he was sleepy all the time. He finds it soothing. “They never actually get mad, they just think bickering is fun. Oh, what’s that paper you’ve got there?” Oh, true, he hasn’t put the timetable in his bag yet.
“Oh, Xiao! I need to tell you about the teachers, true.” Fischl stops their silly argument about whether that Good Hunter is decent or not to look at the paper from behind him. “What teachers did you two get by the way?” Bennett starts to talk about their new chemistry teacher while Fischl decides the order she should use to talk about the teachers. “Ugh, we have Art History right after the break, fuck. See, Ms. Lisa is lovely and everything, Xiao, but she’s so boring. Her voice basically lulls you to sleep, and the fact her class is boring only makes it worse. Oh, and we have class with Mr. Keideprinz right after… I have a feeling you’ll like him! Oh, and he teaches us two subjects this year, that’s lovely. He’s cool, he’s cool. He is fun, but in an interesting way, and he has the best comebacks. Ah, and rumor has it he’s dating the Teyvat History teacher. That one’s also really cool, Mr. Alberich. You can call him Kaeya but I think he likes people who treat him formally better, so there’s that. But yeah, everyone thinks they are dating, to be honest they do an awful job at hiding it.”
“Why do you say so?”
Before any of the other three can begin to explain that, someone bursts inside the classroom and catches their attention. The person in question is a short boy, still probably taller than Xiao by a few centimeters (not like it matters, his boots make him taller by far), with a slim figure and long limbs. His hair is styled in braids and it has an aquamarine dye on the ends, and his eyes are the same color. The white oversized hoodie he has on has short sleeves and has been cut to look like a crop-top and his pants are, surprisingly, a shade of pink instead of every other color. He has a mischievous smile and his eyes shine like those of a kid who's about to get in trouble.
“Bennett, my dear!” He calls in a singsong manner as he makes his way towards the other four “I’ve been searching for you everywhere! You don’t happen to have a pen, do you? I didn’t bring anything at all, like, who even brings supplies on the first day? Tch, tch, tch, right, no one!” He moves a lot when he speaks, Xiao notices, he gestures a lot and the way he almost dances is hypnotic “Well, but yeah, apparently I need a pen to do something in… Basically every class, even if it’s not much that I need to write… But Kaz is outside doing whatever and I already lost the one Barbara gave me, and Archons, it would be really impolite to ask her for another after that… So, yeah, dear, do you have a pen you can give me?”
“Uh, I do have one, but then I wouldn’t have anything for myself.” The other’s smile drops and he sighs. “Maybe you can wait for Kazuha to come back or…”
“You can borrow one of mine.” Xiao mumbles, opening his bag and searching for his pencil case.
“Oh, Barbatos above, you truly are a savior!” Dramatically much, he pretends to almost faint and leans back on the boy’s torso. Despite not being comfortable for Xiao, he doesn’t say anything and lets it pass. “I’ve never seen you around, are you the new boy Barbara was talking about? Archons bless you, new boy. Do you have a name I can call you?”
“Xiao.” His reply is short and his voice sounds tense, but he’s too uncomfortable to focus on anything else that is own discomfort or his regret about offering his pen in the first place.
“Oh my, that’s a Liyuen name, am I right?” He finally lifts himself out of Xiao’s body and picks the pen “Thank Barbatos I found someone like you, really! Which class are you in? I’ll have to give this back to you, right?”
“You can… You can have it. Forever. Do not give it back. I’m fine without it. Use it yourself. Don’t give it back. At all. Don’t search for me. It’s okay if you take it forever. Yes. Do that.” Even after the Mondstadter nods and leaves, he keeps repeating small quotes like that, till he sees Fischl gesturing to him to stop. “Who… who is he?” He mutters. “Why is he so dramatic about everything and so…?”
“I told you, he loves having attention on him.” Fischl answers at his side. “He seems to like you more than he likes the average person somehow, so get used to him.” The fact makes him gulp. What’s he supposed to do with the information? Is he going to have a boy randomly pretending to faint in his arms for the rest of the year now? “Hopefully the damsel in distress number is a today-only thing… But I can reassure he’s not going to try and call your attention the rest of the year… At least until he gives up. Sorry man.”
“He’s not that bad if you get to know him, he’s fun to go partying with.” Bennett tries to defend him “But if you are actually trying to get him out of your sight you are going to have a problem. But really, if you try to befriend him, Venti is really nice to be with! He does get in trouble a lot, though, beware of that.”
“He goes looking for trouble.”
With that, Fischl and Bennett start another argument, that might be a little more serious than the other. But Xiao can’t bring himself to care, his mind is spiraling about a certain someone.
That Venti who seems so keen on Xiao.