- finally us || xiao x aether

[ xiao ]

first day of school.. nothing new, yet i feel kinda nervous. i was lucky enough to hear that hutao is still attending this school though she found out we weren't in the same class. that's unfortunate, but it'll be fine.

still, i'm glad she hit me up and asked me to wait for her so we can enter the school building together. i decided to wait for her beside the school gate.

there's a lot of students, though i'm not one of the new ones. i started attending this school last school year. i didn't really make any close friends except for hutao, she's a handful but i dont mind.

as usual, she's taking awhile..

huh?

someone's looking.. a guy? woah, his hairstyle suits him. hmm? he just looked away, was that accidental? what was that about? also the girl beside him, they look the same except for the hair style.., maybe twins? i think i heard about them before.

hutao is really taking her time.

"boo-!" i turn to see hutao and her.. poking my cheek.

"stop it. waiting for you takes forever."

"ahhh, i'm sorry hehe. take this, i got this on my way. it's been a while, xiao."

she handed me a can of strawberry milk. i take it.

"yeah and thanks."

...

i walk hutao to her classroom and made my way to mine. there's two more seats left at the back row.. aand, i'll take one.

i was about to make myself comfortable when someone quickly sat beside me. it's the guy from earlier-

i guess he wanted to sit at the back row too and he beat the girl to it. he sighs loudly and we make eye contact. oh... did i stare too long?

"hey! my name is aether, i have twin sister lumine- ah yes.. she's at the other class." i didn't know someone's face can shine so bright and get dim in a second.

"uh, hi. i'm xiao. nice to meet you, aether."

"cool. if you're okay with it, you want to be friends?" huh, it's that easy?

"...yes? " he's like hutao but she's more energetic.

"nice! i like your hairstyle by the way, it matches your eyes. i wonder if i could pull it off.."

a compliment? should i say one back..?

"...thanks. i like yours too, it's pretty." was that too much? i can't remember the last time i complimented someone..

hopefully that didn't come off weird. but he's just staring at me, what's that expression..?

"thank you" he finally replied. he's smiling so i guess, i didn't say anything wrong.

that's good.

...

it's lunch time. should i check on hutao? we would sometimes get lunch together last year. maybe she made a lot of friends already. i should at least see for myself just in case. i would sometimes catch her alone last year.., still confused why she didn't call for me.

"it's finally lunch break! i thought i was going to die. the introductions wont just stop and i bet we'll do more later for our other classes", aether sighs.

"yeah.." i'm hungry.

"lumine should be here.. lumine!" he stood up quickly and ran to the door. there stood his twin sister, lumine. huh? is that hutao beside her? i guess i should go too.

"aether, this will definitely be hard to get used too. wahhhh!!" lumine is hugging aether tightly right now. they're both jokingly crying.

"oh my! so you're the twin brother! do you know how funny it was when lumine added you in her introduction but forgot you weren't there." hutao pops out of no where. she's like a ghost, i swear.

"shut up, hutao!  agghh, it was embarrassing but i was more sad realizing you weren't there." lumine pouts as aether pats her head to comfort her. she looks at me.

"is this xiao? hutao mentioned you! your hair color is cool, do you think it'll look good on me?" yeah, they're definitely twins.

"hello and thanks, i do recommend it"

"hahaha there's now way you'll pull that off." aether laughs.

"don't worry, brother. i won't outshine you so i'll stay blonde, just for your sake. ah-!" aether flicks lumine on the forehead.

"you guys are so cute!! let's go have lunch together. is that okay with you all?" hutao pinches both of the twin's cheek.

"sure thing." they both replied and i nod.

...

so hutao and lumine are classmates.

"i'm hutao! and this is xiao, we were classmates last year. i just became friends with lumine today and i bet we'll be good friends too, aether." hutao says with a smile on her face. she's always smiling actually.

"you bet, please take care of my sister for me. she's quite the handful." ...you're definitely asking the wrong person for that.

"of course! don't worry about it."  you should be worried, aether.

"omg aether, hutao does pranks too- uh, im not implying that im replacing you but we're planning to do some pranks next week!" lumine gives hutao a high five.

now that she mentioned it, the twins were known for non-stop pranks last year.  i think they did one during a school program, it was.. messy.

"what?? you're replacing me." aether says, acting hurt.

"i just said-"

"pfhahaha i'm just kidding. sounds like fun! so is there a way i can join in??"

"..." no reply.

"sorry, dear brother. maybe if we weren't one classroom a part it would be possible."

"oh. i see." he looks actually sad now.

"i'm sorry, aether! but if ever we come up with something, we'll tell you."

"you can think of me as someone representing you for this school year's troublemakers. it'll be fun!" hutao added.

oh, he's back to smiling. "hahah thanks a lot, i owe you. don't worry that much though since i'll definitely have a fun year with xiao too! right, xiao? do you do pranks-?"

i coughed. did i just choke on air? or the strawberry milk..? that caught me off guard.. i didn't expect him to say that.

"no, i don't. sorry." i reply.

am i crazy? or was just too lonely last year..? hearing that makes me happy. i feel like the anxiety i had for this school year just disappeared..

"oh, that's fine! i'm sure we can still have fun together."

"..i'm looking forward to it."