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Xiao was seven when his life ended. 

Seven when they’d gone to the doctor’s, his parents excited and his brother ecstatic as always (though Chongyun wouldn’t understand what was happening until he was seven himself and mother had made him promise that he wouldn’t tell anyone what happened in that room). 

Seven when the room chilled and the apple rose off the desk. Telekinesis, the doctor had said, a rare but useful gift. Telekinesis, his parents had gasped; there wasn’t such a gene in the family. His mother could create diamonds in her palm and his father could bend sounds to his will, where would a telekinetic come from? (They’d had an argument about that when they thought he wasn’t listening. Spitting and shouting about infidelity and adultery that never happened, not that Xiao knew what such words meant. He was seven after all.)

Telekinesis, he’d thought when the spoon wouldn’t lift off the table but the meat would. Telekinesis he’d thought as he’d ran to his parents bright-eyed to share his discovery. Telekinesis he’d thought when an injured rabbit followed him home so he could clean its wounds.

Telekinesis he’d thought.

Telekinesis was wrong.

“Mummy!” He had cried for his mother was a vet, “Come here!” His mother, who had still loved him then, followed his cry with no question. She had crouched next to him and listened kindly as he explained his situation. It wasn’t uncommon for Xiao to bring injured animals home with him, ever since the boy had learned his mother could heal them he’d made it his mission to bring back every creature and critter to get healed by his mother’s kiss, so the woman didn’t pay it much mind as she scooped the creature up in her palm. She stroked its fur, all thick and cold and wet, in an attempt to calm the docile creature down as she searched for a pulse. She searched more and more, until she was frantically palming at every part of its body, searching desperately for any signs of life. Her son, now terrified, was long forgotten.

 Then her husband came, curious about her extended absence and he too watched the sight in horror as she searched. Every action more and more desperate until there was no inch of fur left untouched, no piece of skin that shouldn’t have bruised from her handling and yet it was unscathed. 

Untouched, perfect and dead.

“It’s dead,” she whispered, horror sending a chill up her spine, “Jianyu, it’s dead.” she repeated, her breathing becoming more erratic the longer the rabbit sat there. The longer that damned rabbit shuffled around and had the audacity to touch her son . Every moment that monster was still on her property felt like a moment too long. If she didn’t get rid of it, if she didn’t get it out-

“What do you mean?” her son questioned, his eyes full of fear. Their luminescence pierced through her skull as he questioned her, moving towards her to be of some comfort. His eyes glowing so brightly that if she didn’t know better she would have mistaken it for a tell.

Well, maybe she didn’t know better.

Her back hit the wall with the force of her horror. That monster, that zombie was in her house and her son was controlling it. That was beyond what any telekinetic could do, that was mind control, that was necromancy . She wouldn’t use that word to describe her son for a long time, though, for now, she could only shake and shudder and push further back into the wall.

“Stop” she whispered, her eyes wider and angrier the further back she pushed. 

“What?” the boy, no the beast, whispered. All innocence and confusion as if it didn’t know what it was doing wrong. Didn’t know how it was harming her. Like a cat at your doorstep with an offering of a mouse carcass, except this cat didn’t let its mouse stay dead.

He didn’t stop moving.

“I said stop, you monster!” she spat, her tone harsh as she flung her palm forth. Diamonds scattered from her hand, grazing the monster’s skin as it hit him. Her husband lunged forward, grabbing the creature and pulling it close towards him, as if it were still their child and not some evil changing that had taken his place. Xiao, at least to the woman, was dead now; long ago murdered by the beast who lay before her. That was not her son

And she wanted her son back.

“Mingxia!” her husband hissed, fear and anger reflected in his eyes as he clutched onto the impostor, cradling the boy as he stared her down. Mingxia just hissed, telling her husband to get away from the beast, for when Xiao was seven he became a monster.

The diamonds never stopped coming.

When Xiao was eight, his father left, promising to come back and get him and his brother soon.

A month later he died in a car crash.

The scars got worse after that.

The day his father died his mother squeezed harder than she ever had and soon his side was marred was coated by the biggest scar he had. He still isn’t sure, how he had managed to clean himself up that day but to whatever knowledge consumed him he was eternally thankful. 

He still had so much shit to do.

Xiao was eleven when Chongyun presented. His mother had still loved her youngest then, had still believed that he wasn't a victim of the 'possession' her oldest suffered. She'd been so excited, when Chongyun's seventh birthday had come, bundling them all up in nice clothing and not even bothering to hit Xiao when he congratulated the younger. 

It was peaceful.

Then Chongyun presented. 

They didn't realise, until they got home again, that what had happened four years ago had happened again. Didn't realise, until their mother had scared Chongyun, that the documents were wrong again. That the people Chongyun was talking to weren't imaginary friends, well not in the traditional sense.

For now, though, they were in the car on the way back. Xiao watched his brother chat happily with his imaginary friend (a girl he had named Ming who had an impressive temper) with a soft smile on his face. Sounds manipulation, Xiao would think, just like father. Father had named his power 'symphony', supposedly after his tendency to use it to spontaneously place music, and Xiao knew Chongyun would choose a name just as beautiful. (‘Seance’ was nice, Xiao must admit, it managed to capture the essence of the younger’s power without simplifying it down to ‘mind control’. It also had the quality of sounding really ominous, which was always a win.) Xiao himself had never had the opportunity to choose a name, split between pretending to be telekinetic to the public and avoiding his mother at home; he supposed there wasn't a good name for it. What could properly describe the horrors that lay within him? 

Like his mother, Xiao wouldn't learn the word necromancy for many years. It didn't describe his powers accurately if he was being picky, for he didn't possess many powers the average necromancer should have. He could only really control corpses (and by extension sense when something was dead) and if he glared hard enough he could see a wisp of a ghost but he was far from being able to "absorb life force" or "divination" (which fourteen year old him - and if he was being honest, current him - was very offended didn't come with his skill set). It felt kind of weird, to know that he didn't even meet the conditions of monsters he'd been damned to and was forever in limbo. Not truly human but entirety a demon.

Just wholly and entirely… Xiao.

He wouldn't come to appreciate that for a long time.

"Brother." Chongyun had whispered, though he never turned his head towards the other, "Can you hear me?" 

Xiao turned to raise an eyebrow at the other and raised an eyebrow, why would Chongyun ask such a thing? "Yes?"

The younger brightened at the notion of the other being able to hear him and whipped around to face him, "You can?" Chongyun beamed, though his lips made no movement… odd.

"Of course."

"Thank heavens!" the other almost bounced in his excitement, "I've been trying to talk to mummy for ages and she couldn't hear me!"

Xiao sighed, it had been a long time since he’d been excited to talk to his mother but for Chongyun he’d fake it, "Mingxia?" he asked as close to pleasant as he could get. Clearly his act wasn’t good enough (or his presence alone soured his mother’s mood) because when Mingxia replied her tone was far from loving.

"What," she said curtly, not even attempting to appear nice for Chongyun’s sake. The changeling had the audacity to start a conversation with her, she couldn’t be blamed for being disgusted.

"Chongyun wants you," Xiao said, his pleasant facade flaking to reveal a convoluted mess of anger and fear.

Their mother sneered from the front of the car, her dark hair face as she tilted her head to catch Xiao’s eye in the rearview mirror. "Then why doesn't he speak to me himself?"

Xiao huffs, disliking how his own dark hair moved in a mirror of hers when he sneered back, "He says he's been trying to get to you for a while."

"Has he?" his mother rolled her eyes before softening her expression to speak to her youngest.  "What do you want, baby?" It was jarring, if not borderline sickening, to watch their mother talk to both of her sons. The drastic difference in the way she treated them was dizzying; her demeanour hopping back and forth between snarls and punches to smiles and cuddles within seconds. Even at eleven years old (though Xiao was never really given the chance to be a child), Xiao knew this and at eleven years old Xiao had convinced himself it was better to ignore it.

"Can we get ice cream?" Chongyun questioned, his mouth still stagnant in a perfect smile, "Please!" And he smiled and smiled, asking again and again until his smile started to falter. Only then did Mingxia speak up,

"I can't do what you want if you don't ask," she said gently, smiling softly as if to egg her boy on.

Chongyun at this point didn’t understand what he was doing, even though he’d started to present quite early his power had only been fully formed for a few days. Let alone the fact he was a half-hour out of his medical tests, so he could be forgiven for not understanding the situation. "I did ask!" he pouted, no sound leaving his lips once more.

"He did ask." Xiao rolled his eyes, too caught up in the argument to notice what was going on, "He wants ice cream." he repeated to his mother, utterly tired of the woman not being able to hear their conversation. Or at least pretending not to, if she didn’t want to buy ice cream she could just deny Chongyun’s request outright. No need for these silly games.

"Well,” Mingxia huffed because she was frustrated too. Her son and Xiao seemed to be having a conversation beyond her and it bothered her down to her core. How dare that monster understand her baby more than her. “Then he should tell me himself." she said once more, now sending a pointed look at Xiao to ‘stay out of this’.

"He did." Xiao snarled, frowning even deeper. This was ridiculous.

"Don't lie to me brat." his mother spat, slamming onto the breaks far to violently as they pulled into their road.

Xiao took a deep breath before letting out, slowly this time, "I'm not lying." he didn’t want to get into an argument in front of Chongyun, not on his special day.

"Not lying my arse," Mingxia spat, turning off the car but not moving a muscle, "it's your brother's special day, don't ruin it because you're jealous."

That, for Xiao, was the last straw.

"I'm not lying!" he shouted, attempting to lung forward but being stopped by his seat belt.

"This is getting ridiculous," his mother grumbled, climbing out of the car and opening Xiao’s door. She firmly grabbed his shoulder and yanked him out of the car, her eyes glowing as diamonds started to pierce through the child’s skin, "Listen here, you bastard-" Xiao glared up defiantly, blood dripping down his shoulder as he buried his pain.

It hurt . It hurt more than any other wound his mother had given him but he wasn’t going to cry. He couldn’t let himself cry. So he gritted his teeth and glared until a piercing sound echoed down the road.

"Stop !" His brother yelled and for the first time since they left the doctor’s office, Chongyun opened his mouth. " Don't hurt him!" he cried, hastily unbuckling his seatbelt and running towards the pair, making a weak attempt at pushing his mother away from his brother (his mother physically couldn’t hurt Xiao in that moment, her powers had deactivated the moment Chongyun had demanded they do so but the seven-year-old didn’t know that).

"Baby…" the black-haired woman whispered, leaning down to look her youngest in the eye. She wasn’t sure if she was trying to get Chongyun to go away or to convince him to let go of whatever hold he had on her (and unknown to her, everyone else in hearing distance), She just knew she wanted him to listen, but he wouldn’t.

"No !" he shook his head violently, tears welling up in his eyes as he babbled, " Don't go within… six metres of him ever again!". As if on cue, his mother was flung back into their front door, the violent crack of her impact echoing down the road. Even then her unconscious body tried to move more because she wasn’t six metres away and six metres was what Chongyun had said.

"Chongyun…" Xiao whispered, not sure what was going on but knowing from experience exactly how their mother would react.

"Are you okay?" Chongyun whispered though he returned to his soundless method from before.

"I'm fine." Xiao whispered, stroking his brother’s hair as he pulled him into his chest and (more importantly) away from their mother, "I don't know if Mingxia is though." he joked. He knew she was alive, at least, as he couldn’t control her sleeping figure but whether that crack had been the door or her bones was up for debate.

"I don't care!" Chongyun shook his head in defiance, "She hurt you!" 

"You'll care later." Xiao smiled, endeared that his brother was willing to go past his caring nature for him, Even if the other was a bit hysterical.

"I won't."

"If you say so." he whispered, patting the other’s head again before pulling away slightly to look him in the eye, "What do you want to do?"

Chongyun seemed to ponder the request for a second before grinning and declaring, "I want ice cream!" he cheered (it was going to take Xiao a long time to get used to Chongyun speaking without actually moving his mouth but he knew that until they could control his voice, the telepathy they’d lucked out with was their best option).

Xiao nodded because at this point he needed an ice cream too, "Can you go get Mingxia’s purse for me?" he whispered secretively to his brother as if giving him a great task, "I can't go within six metres of her." he added on when Chongyun gave him an inquisitive look.

That seemed to satisfy Chongyun as he grinned once again and nodded, "Okay!" before marching towards their mother to digging around in her bag. Once he found what he was looking for, he returned to his brother proudly waving the pouch over his head. This earned him another head pat before Xiao grabbed his hand and started leading him to the closest ice cream parlour before a thought crossed his mind. 

If he could hear Chongyun’s telepathy but their mother couldn’t, does that make him telepathic too? If he was that opened so many opportunities (most of which was his eleven-year-old brain getting over-excited about having secret conversations) and a path he had to test out right now .

‘Oh, and try to keep all our talks up here,’ He thought fervently at his brother in an act that would end up being their saviour over the next several years, though now it was the over-excited games of an eleven-year-old. ‘wouldn't want nosy people to listen in to our secrets.’  he winked, hoping passionately that his brother would hear him,

And lo and behold, his brother did.

"Okay." 

And that day, Xiao swore to himself that he'd protect Chongyun to his dying day. (It took Xiao about fifteen minutes to realise he never actually got around to cleaning his wound but after a quick trip home to pull out the gemstones, disinfect and wrap the wound, they finally got that ice cream.)

(That event had left a nasty scar Xiao had spent the entirety of his childhood ignoring. When he was old enough he got a tattoo to cover it and accidentally ended up matching the love of his life. So he guessed every cloud did have a silver lining).

Xiao was seventeen when their mother died. Well, he'd been seventeen when she had stopped breathing, he was fourteen when she faded out of their lives. Fourteen when he'd marched into the head teacher’s office with a forged signature and a demand, fourteen when he started having to rely on himself. 

"I would like to speak to you about my brother," Xiao demanded, standing up as straight as he could and staring the headteacher down with all his might.

"Yes?" the lady nodded, smiling kindly down at the child. Though it was clear she wasn’t taking him seriously.

Xiao took in a deep breath before stealing his gaze and reciting his practised speech, "You may have noticed that he doesn't speak often." he started, gripping onto the paper in his pocket hard enough to crinkle it as he spoke.

"Yes." 

"And I would like to pass on my mother's request to pull him out of school for homeschooling," he asked, gentler this time, even lowing his eyes out of a bit of shyness when he said the last bit.

"Why?"

"She fears he may be bullied for his condition." he continued, looking down in the hopes that if the elder couldn’t see his face he wouldn’t see through him. He couldn’t afford to be caught, not until Chongyun got here, anyway. "He also looks abandoned, which makes it worse," he whispered quietly as if being abandoned was worse than the fate he had suffered for being gifted. (He’d decide later on that he wasn’t sure if he’d rather die young and poisoned as an abandoned or live the life he had as a gifted, for each life was full of suffering. One just ended earlier.)

"Abandoned?" the headteacher muttered in pity, her voice softened and when Xiao was brave enough to look up he saw that her face now sported a soft smile.

"Mummy says he inherited daddy's sound manipulation power," he pushed on, just as quiet as before. Making sure the woman had to focus on every word he said just to hear it (what could he say, drama classes were useful after all), "I don't remember his presentation well, though." he frowned slightly at that, which he hoped came across as being upset at not being able to remember his brother’s big day and not ‘I can remember that hellhole too well’. That’d ruin his cover.

"Oh," she gasped softly which comforted himself slightly, she believed him somewhat, "Why isn't your mother here herself?"

"She drank a lot, from her special cupboard. The one she won't let us touch," Xiao answered, opting for the truth, "And she said it made her sick this morning, so she sent me instead." he pulled out the crumpled note from his pocket and straightened it out, placing it down gently in front of the teacher, "She even gave me this!" 

She gave the piece of paper a quick once over before nodding, "Thank you very much, Xiao," she smiled brightly, "I'll be sure to call your mummy later."

Shoot.

"No!" Xiao shouted in panic, gaining a sceptical look from the older woman, "She said she didn't want to be disturbed," he added on hastily, trying to cover up his slip up.

"Okay," the teacher said slowly before sitting up a bit straighter and throwing Xiao a bone. "Why isn't she pulling you out too?" she asked a hidden meaning in her tone Xiao didn’t have the skill to decipher (worry was an emotion he didn’t see on adults often, after all).

"She says I'll be fine," he said, thankful to be back onto territory he had prepared for.

"And will you?" 

"I have lots of friends!" he tried to say brightly even though he knew he had none, "And I am doing well in my studies!" that was true, at least, Xiao didn’t have much else to do other than study and care for his brother and he was damn good at both.

That coaxed the soft grin back out of the woman, which had to be a good thing, "You're such a mature boy," the teacher complimented, "Your mother is lucky to have a son like you."

"Thank you, ma’am." 

"Is it alright if I called your brother here?" she continued, already drafting the email as she spoke, "I would like to know his opinion?"

"Of course ma’am." 

After a few minutes, Chongyun pushed the door of the office and Xiao felt a great weight lift off his shoulders. 

They could deal with this together.

Chongyun smiled brightly, giving the teacher a small wave and Xiao an even livelier one before joining his brother before the desk.

"Do you have your notebook?" Xiao asked, already digging around his bag to find Chongyun’s spare. Chongyun, who had nothing on his person, shook his head shyly before receiving the blue notebook and a pen from his brother gratefully.

"Your brother is telling me that your mother wants you to start learning at home, is that true?" the teacher asked, smiling kindly down at the younger.

"My brother is telling the truth," Chongyun replied with just as much fervour as he had greeted them with, smiling politely as if he wasn’t violating their free will.

"What?"

"Please do as he says." he continued, smile unwavering as he repeated the lines from their last resort plan perfectly.

"You can't speak?" the teacher said slowly, her voice wavering under the power of her fear, confusion and the effort she must be applying to be able to think about anything other than doing as Chongyun said. Chongyun wouldn’t perfect this particular technique until he was fourteen (or discover its weaknesses until he was sixteen but that’s a story for later on).

And Chongyun only smiled wider and said, "I can't." and the woman’s eyes went blank.

A moment later life returns to her eyes and she nods, "Would you like to learn at home?" Chongyun, as he was meant to do, nodded and quickly flicked to the ‘yes please’ page in his notebook and turned it to show to the woman.

"Okay," she nodded "We'll see what we can do." Chongyun turned the page over where he had, conveniently, written ‘thank you’ and held it up proudly as he smiled up at the teacher. After a minute or so of polite but meaningless conversation, the pair eventually took their leave and started to head back to their classes for the day.

'That was creepy…' Xiao whispered through the bond, thinking that a bright-eyed ten-year-old grinning at you as they forced you to do things was perfect horror film fodder. This, earned a frown from his brother, though, who had only wanted to be polite, 'Sorry' he apologised lightly, patting Chongyun’s head softly. ‘You did great.’

It had been him and Chongyun since then when their mother was alive and even more when she was dead. On the bright side, they had a lot more fun when their mother was dead. From job hunting to pay the bills after mum’s money ran out (which, it turns out, it wouldn’t do for a while) to semi-breaking into museums to play with the skeletons, they had a lot of fun

And met a lot of fun people.

Chongyun was in a particularly shoddy mood one day when he was fourteen (as fourteen-year-olds often are). He hadn’t gone to school for three years (their homeschooling plan had worked out and even though Chongyun knew it was because he couldn’t hide his power anymore he wanted to go to school, to be a regular kid who didn’t have to be taught algebra by their older brother - who’d only recently turned eighteen. He wanted to be normal and he was yet to realise that’s what Xiao was trying his hardest to emulate for them) and Xiao had decided a ‘field trip’ to the nearest natural history museum was due. This also meant he’d woken Chongyun up early so they could make it at a less crowded time, which also contributed to his bad mood.

Basically, everything was Xiao’s fault and as much as he appreciated the older shouldering way more than he should for the both of them now that Mingxia was dead, he was petty.

Xiao, on the other hand, had other plans. Every skeleton they walked by gave him a little poke or chirped and tilted their heads. Every exhibition rattled with life as soon as Chongyun neared and Chongyun knew what Xiao was doing. He knew his brother was trying to get him invested in their little trip through history but that didn’t stop Chongyun from smiling when a hippo snuggled into his side.

He stroked his hand against its head, chuckling softly as it reacted more in like of a dog than a dead beast, and scratched its head. It was cold, of course, its skin was slightly waxy and it felt very much like a taxidermied animal but Xiao was a very convincing puppeteer and Chongyun couldn’t help believing it for a moment.

So did, unfortunately, their unknown observer.

“How are you doing that?” a voice came from behind them and the hippo’s head froze. Chongyun frowned, the telekinesis lie worked well enough in situations like these that Xiao didn’t have to stop what he was doing so the older really didn’t have a reason to stop. If anything stopping when they got caught made them more suspicious. So Chongyun turned around, hoping to see what had shocked his brother so much that he had stopped animating the animal when he saw a singular man. 

He was around Xiao’s height with green eyes and pale skin, his hair separated into two teal coloured braids and was dressed rather modestly. He also carried what appeared to be a violin case on his back (but if Chongyun was being honest it could be a viola and he wouldn’t be able to tell) and looked more than a little bit shocked (and, luckily enough, fascinated) by their situation. Sure, he was attractive but nothing that should shock Xiao into-

Oh.

He was attractive.

“Telekinesis?” Xiao muttered quickly as Chongyun smirked at him, before startling. That wasn’t normal. ‘You didn’t say anything.’ He raised an eyebrow at his brother, they had a protocol for situations like these that had worked so far. There was no reason to stop?

‘You want him to know’ Chongyun answered simply as if it were a universal truth causing his brother to flush,

‘I don’t want him to know!’ he thought incredulously, knowing that he was probably physicalizing their conversation but being able to bring himself to care.

Chongyun rolled his eyes, joining his brother in looking crazy and miming back and forth, ‘You do. It’s not as if you’ll’ he thought slowly, making sure to mimic the echoing sound of his spoken speech so that when he said the next bit, “Say it aloud.” Xiao wouldn’t catch on immediately.

Luckily enough Xiao didn’t catch on and he was the only one Chongyun was worried about, “But I might!” he hissed, his cheeks going pinker as he said so.

‘You admit it!’ Chongyun grinned, fixing his brother with a knowing look as the other went through an internal (well external now) struggle.

“This is your job!” his older brother grumbled, subtly gesturing towards Venti with a frown on his face,  “To make sure I don’t out us to every cute guy I see!”

“You think I’m cute?” the man from earlier (who if they were being honest they had kind of forgotten was listening in) giggled at the scene and Xiao, the ever stoic Xiao, went bright red.

“I said that aloud?” he spluttered, his face as red as blood as he turned to face the man for a moment. Staring in shock before the situation clicked in his mind. He swirled around the glare at his brother, “Chongyun! Turn that off right now!” he hissed trying to look as threatening as he could while also impersonating a tomato. 

It wasn’t going well.

‘No.’ Chongyun answered simply with a badly maintained calm tone, his smile wavered the longer he looked at his brother. He had never seen Xiao blush this much ever and he’d known Xiao for fourteen years, this was a monumental moment.

“Yun!”

“That’s cute.” the man who was yet to realise the gravity of the situation, smiled at them before seeing Xiao go redder (Chongyun could place good bets on his brother passing out soon at this rate, if he had any money to waste that was) and realising in horror that he had said that aloud and going red himself.

‘See he thinks you’re cute too!’ Chongyun beamed, seemingly unearthing a hidden sadism Xiao had no idea about. Teenagers were monsters.

“Shut up.” Xiao grumbled, burying his face in his hands as the man with pigtails seemed to be in a bit of a panic on his side of the situation.

“Wait, I said that aloud.” he murmured, embarrassment weaved through his tone as he rambled, “And that too! Why aren’t my thoughts staying in my head?”

Xiao just slowly lifted his face from his palm to look Chongyun in the eye and say, “You explain.” so utterly done with his life in that moment that he didn’t even think about the fact that it was his rules that had caused Chongyun to play mute and in accordance with what he wanted he was the only one of the two who had the ability to explain because Xiao had never been this embarrassed in his life. Rules be damned, Chongyun is dealing with this situation.

Chongyun on the other hand, decided that he was stickler for the rules he’d just spent the last few minutes breaking and gave his brother a firm shake of his head. Shrugging slightly when Xiao scowled at him,

“It’s your problem now.” his brother growled, though there was little malice behind his tone, and he dragged his hand through his hair, taking a deep inhale.

‘But I could accidentally control him.’ Chongyun dismissed as he shrugged, revelling slightly in the resigned look his brother gave him. 

Xiao took a long breath, as if gathering himself, before straightening up slightly and sighing, “Okay fine.” he muttered reluctantly and gestured to himself, “Necromancy.” then gestured to Chongyun, “Mind control.” he almosted winced at the vast oversimplification of their powers but he didn’t want to be doing this longer than he had to so he had to make do. “Telepathy.” He finished, gesturing at the space between them.

‘Informative.’ Chongyun commented lightly through the bond, a small smile still gracing his face.

Xiao rolled his eyes and frowned even deeper, “Shut up, you’re still on thin ice young man.” he said with all the grace of an eldest sibling who’d practically raised the younger and really wasn’t that much older than the other (four years had felt like a lot when he was eleven but it felt like drastically less time now, he guessed that’s what came with ageing) and the little frown Chongyun had on his face was so endearing he couldn’t help but smiling a bit himself,

That was quickly destroyed, though.

“Young man.” the man giggled and Xiao suddenly remembered why he was annoyed at Chongyun. His smile quickly soured and his face returned to the ever familiar frown.

‘Worth it-’ Chongyun thought triumphantly, which earnt he a flick to the forehead  “Apologise.” he pouted at the older, his face now mimicking the frown on Xiao’s (their observer would admit later that Xiao really did look like Chongyun when he was smiling and vice versa when Chongyun frowned but for now he was fighting the compulsion to apologise and failing horribly).

“Sorry!” He squeaked, quickly covering his mouth in embarrassment not used to having someone control him in such a way (which if Xiao thought about it for more than a second he’d realised that most people weren’t, let alone people who weren’t related to him, but in that moment he only thought it was endearing).

‘Wait I forgot he was here.’ Chongyun said, looking apologetically at the third party as he tried to work out whether this was an ‘disregard order’ scenario or a ‘order dismissed’ scenario.

“Lucky you,” Xiao muttered.

Chongyun just frowned again before looking up to stare his brother in the eye and say slowly, “Disregard order.”

‘Thank fuck.’ 

“Except you, Xiao.”

“Fuck you.” Xiao groaned.

‘What can I say, you’re on thin ice.’ Chongyun shrugged, patting the hippo’s head before standing up to return to his brother’s side. That was a challenge Xiao would not back down from.

“I’m buying chillies on the way home.” the older replied, his face not displaying any glee when Chongyun’s eyes’ widened. Neither of them knew why Chongyun got a little… silly whenever he hate anything too hot and they couldn’t exactly go to the doctor’s (not after they’d missed their yearly gift checkups for almost a decade) but so far no one had been harmed in the episodes and Xiao found it very amusing so as far as he was involved as long as his brother remained safe those would be his prime revenge territory.

‘You wouldn’t dare’ Chongyun narrowed his eyes.

“I would,” Xiao said slowly as he stared back. 

Chongyun whipped his head around (almost desperately) and shouted, “What’s your name?” at the man who was still watching them (were they really that entertaining?)

“Venti,” he answered immediately, which Chongyun appreciated (not that he could have done anything else but it made the next order easier.)

“Okay, Venti, would you mind thinking aloud for me again?” he asked, smiling sweetly at the other in the way he knew still creeped Xiao out.

“Absolutely.” the man, now revealed as Venti, answered quickly before realising what had happened and cursing, “Fuck.” Xiao (who knew exactly where this was going) reluctantly tapped Chongyun’s arm thrice (their agreed danger sign which ended up being translated to admitting defeat as well) and sighed, earning a proud grin from his younger brother.

“Disregard order.” Chongyun smiled, giving Venti an apologetic nod as he did so.

‘I need to teach you how to control that.’ Xiao sighed down the bond, his frowned growing at the memory of the number of times Chongyun, accidentally or not, had inconvenienced them in situations that could have been prevented if the younger had control over his power. Not that Xiao really knew how to teach him but he was the only teacher the younger had, the only person the younger had, so he’d have to make do.

‘You do.’ Chongyun nodded, likely also thinking back to those same situations. They were rather embarrassing situations.

“What is going on?” Venti questioned a moment later when he was sure the pair weren’t occupied because apparently ‘necromancy, mind control, telepathy’ wasn’t good enough of an explanation.

‘You explain.’ Xiao said because clearly this oversimplification of their situation wasn’t cutting it and this time Chongyun agreed. The younger pulled his bag off of his back and started rummaging around for his whiteboard (they’d discovered that a whiteboard was a way better idea after they’d blown through too many notebooks) and pulled it out. He started by scribbling ‘I’m Chongyun and this is my brother Xiao.’ before replacing it with, ‘My gift is communication and control of spirits and his gift is controlling dead things, we have a shared gift of’ he scrubbed that out once he was sure the man had read it and wrote, ‘telepathy.’ in its place (underlined twice just so he knew they weren’t crazy) ‘What you saw was him using his powers’ rubbed out, then replaced ‘and me breaking protocol by not brainwashing you into believing it’s telepathy.’ at this point Chongyun understood why his brother had opted for a simple answer, there was more ink on his sleeve and palm than on the board at this point,  ‘and then a few cases of accidental mind control.’

‘Accidental.’ Xiao snorted down the bond and Chongyun sighed before crossing out ‘accidental’ and writing ‘on purpose’ above it.

“You can not tell anyone.” Chongyun finished, aloud this time, half for the effect (the echo his voice had gained after he had presented was rather dramatic) and half for insurance. The pigtailed man nodded firmly (though Chongyun couldn’t tell if he was agreeing or whether that was a side effect of his power) and gave them a small thumbs up and that would have been the end of it,

Except it wasn’t because Chongyun still had one thing he wanted to do. He walked over to Venti and scribbled something on his board that caused the other’s eyes to widen and look at Xiao before giving Chongyun a sceptical look. This caused Chongyun to scribble something else which (luckily? Xiao didn’t know) convinced him.

Venti turned to him with renewed vigour and gestured for him to come over, which made Xiao want to know what Chongyun had said even more. His hesitance seemed to annoy the other, though, because before Xiao knew it a gust of wind forced him towards the other “What?” he gasped, face reddening slightly at the situation, “I-” Venti simply took Chongyun’s pen and writing a chain of numbers followed by ‘Venti <3’ with the i dotted with a heart (oh Xiao found that way more adorable than he should have). 

“Call me.” he smiled and then he was gone.

Xiao did not want to think about how red his face was.

‘Cute.’

And now it was redder. 

(Later he’d note that Venti had used anemo to move him and there was only one family who had that power. He never told the other that he knew his lineage, he didn’t even make an attempt to work out who’s kid he was because he knew better than to hate someone for something they can’t control and Venti wasn’t nearly old enough to be making any of the decisions that had plagued them their entire lives. So it didn’t matter, at least not to Xiao.)

So as all great romances go the pair fell in love (with Chongyun cheering loudly in the background. Metaphorically of course - except that one time where he’d accidentally taken Xiao’s take out box, then he literally cheered his throat raw) and eventually moved in together. A vibe of domesticity filling their lives with joy (and repeated plays of ‘Itty bitty pretty one’ once Venti learnt his boyfriend could use his powers to cook but what is secret can’t always stay secret, and two whole people is a pretty big secret to keep.

That day Xiao had woken up early enough (or didn’t sleep at all, it was about 50/50 with him) to care of breakfast before the others had woken up. It had been almost seven months since they’d moved in with Venti (and two years since they had met) and ever since their kitchen had slowly but surely filled with wooden utensils to the point where the only things Xiao couldn’t control with his power were the food containers and the electronics (and eggs… well he’d never tried. He wasn’t ready for a revelation like that.). He was grateful for a safe environment to practice in, truly, and he could only wish that one day they could provide the same for Chongyun (they were making process, they had a pretty good guess that Chongyun’s powers were only effective they could hear him directly but more effective if he tried to communicate with their souls directly. Also he could force them to astral project, which was a fun discovery for a Tuesday night). Most importantly, though, he was happy to be in a safe place with people he loved and having another mind to put towards Chongyun’s homeschooling. Let’s just say Xiao specialised in biology not literature of foreign languages and Venti could probably recite the first scene from Romeo and Juliet if pressed (not even if pressed, he was more than happy to shout at himself for biting his thumb when Chongyun had noted how he found literature dull. It was not dull anymore, especially when Venti discovered Xiao used to be a theatre kid).

“Morning.” Venti greeted tiredly. He was, unsurprisingly, the last person awake so he was greeted with the slight chill that came with Xiao using his gift and Chongyun clicking away on his phone (probably looking at the Feiyun website, after all like every other teenager in the country he had a crush on someone in that family and they had a presentation soon). The youngest lifted his head when Venti entered the room and gave him a soft wave as a greeting.

“Good morning.” Xiao replied from his place by the stove.

Venti crept up behind him, careful not to shock him as he weaved his arms around the other’s waist, “What are you making?” he hummed from Xiao’s shoulder, still half asleep.

“Nothing special.” Xiao replied, still iron focused on his task.

“It sure smells special.” Venti said, he sniffed the air dramatically before turning his head to Chongyun, “Speaking of special, isn’t the Feiyun presentation today?” he wasn’t completely sure, if he was being honest he’d long stopped caring about the presentation. He’d heard everything they were going to present and more than a million times from his father in the last week. Let alone the amount of time he’d spend with the family (for good business relations when his father eventually forced him to assume ownership of Favonius), they’d lost their magic to him. To Chongyun, though, they were everything so he tried to keep an eye on the dates.

He’d clearly said something right, though, because before he could even wonder what time the presentation would be Chongyun had grabbed the closest piece of food to him and began haistilly putting his shoes on.

“Chongyun!” Xiao shouted to the other but was interrupted before he could finish his request.

‘Gotta go.’ Chongyun thought hastily down their bond before shouting, “Bye!” and running out of the door.

“Was that on purpose?” Xiao sighed, they wouldn’t be able to follow him now. Not until they could find an excuse that would overrun the order.

“I don’t know.” Venti shrugged, detaching himself from Xiao to move towards the kettle. A coffee sounded really good right about now. Maybe with whisky in it, he’d decide when he was making it.

“He forgot his bag, didn’t he?” Xiao continued, exasperated. Chongyun didn’t have good enough control over his power for it to be a good idea for him to go outside with a notebook or his whiteboard and (unfortunately enough) he’d just left both of those behind and when Chongyun got like this, he was almost certain to forget something.

Venti glanced towards the door where, sure enough, Chongyun’s turquoise messenger bag lay abandoned, “Yep.”

Xiao sighed, at least that meant he’d taken his coat. They’d have to go shopping or something near town square to ‘bump into him’ to deliver the bag later. That was for after breakfast, though. It could wait half an hour, couldn’t it?

Chongyun, in all his bagless glory, sprinted down towards the town centre where the presentation was happening. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten about it, he’d written it on his calendar and Xiao’s, put a reminder on his phone and had even packed his bag with an extra pen just in case he got into a conversation with another fan and his pen ran out (even though he’d gotten a new pack a few days ago, with way more colours than he needed, just for the occasion and never went out without a spare pen anyways) and he’d still forgotten! He’d make it, he’d actually be early but not early enough to get a good spot so in his mind he’d be later. 

Nevermind, at least he’d see it. He could only curse their parents for having short genes if his view was compromised by tall people around him.

He only stopped when he finally made it, the presentation hadn’t started yet, as he’d expected, but the square was already packed full of people (also as he expected). He’d have to squeeze through the crowd if he wanted to see much and he did not think luck was on his side for that endeavour.

“You here to see the presentation too?” a voice came from behind him and Chongyun thanked his lucky stars that Xiao had made it his life mission to make sure he’d never be caught off guard by someone appearing behind him (well at least Chongyun hoped all his torment had been towards a noble goal and not just Xiao being a quiet walker). He gives the person a quick nod.

“It’s exciting isn’t it,” they continued, looking towards where the crew could be seen setting up, “I heard they have so many new projects this year.”

Another nod.

“But what I’m really here for is the entertainment at the end,” the person snorted as if the majority of people were actually here to see what the business was going to do in the next year and not ogle at the CEO’s pretty sons, “The sons always put on a great show, don’t they.”

That earned a particularly passionate nod.

“You don’t talk much, do you.” they noted, giving him a curious look.

This time he shakes his head.

Their eyes widen and they begin to fluster, “Are you mute? Should I be signing?” they asked and Chongyun couldn’t help but smile a little at that. It was nice to meet a stranger who was willing to sign for his comfort despite knowing he could hear them. He didn’t meet many of those. He shook his head at the second question but head shakes aren’t as expressive as winks and the stranger assumed he was shaking his head at both statements.

“Then why aren’t you speaking?” they questioned abruptly. Chongyun sighed softly and began to reach for his bag which wasn’t there…

Oh goodness he’d done the thing again.

He grabbed his phone and started typing frantically. Trying to send a text to Xiao as quickly as humanly possible so he could open his notes app to talk to the stranger. Which was going perfectly fine and he was perfectly calm (if calm constituted mild panic in it’s roster of emotions) and then the stranger decided to speak.

“Are you okay?” they asked, leaning over his shoulder while he’s texting his brother about his gift and oh goodness this is not okay.

“Go away!” He squeaked, flinching backwards when the stranger violently stumbled back a metre or two. 

He’s fucked.

“I’m sorry- ” he gasped, before covering his mouth in shame and pleading, “ Pretend this didn’t happen, please.”

“What?” came a voice, a different one, from a few metres behind him. It was only when he turned around to face them that it dawned on him that his squeak was less of a squeak and more of a shout and now there was a two metre large circle around him that used to consist of people he was standing near to and now consisted of nothing.

Fuck fuck fuck.

He started pushing through the crowd, muttering a collection of ‘excuse me’s and ‘please move’s as he pushed towards the sound crew. He needed a microphone, he needed something that would make him louder, something efficient. Well, something that would make him seem louder, his powers wouldn’t work through a microphone and he could easily speak loud enough to control the entire crowd but it seemed less suspicious if he had a microphone, even if it was off. He wasn’t confident in his ability to connect with spirits to attempt a pass brainwashing mentally so he needed something loud and he needed it quickly.

Eventually he got to the centre of the square and frantically grabbed the first microphone he saw, “Does this work?” he asked the lady who had originally been holding it who nodded at him. Great, he thought as he flicked it off, that way he can at least hide that part of his power. 

This could work, hopefully.

He pulled the microphone up to his mouth and took a deep breath. He focused hard, trying to channel every bit of energy he had in him towards his next few commands; the more energy he used, the louder the command was (not the more convincing, sadly) and he needed everyone to hear. “Everyone pay attention. ” he said, wincing slightly at how loud his voice was but pushing through when everyone in the crowd turned to face him blank eyed, “ Thank you. Everyone who can hear me will never speak of what just happened, if you don’t know you will not ask. If you have recorded it the recording will be deleted, all records of this event will disappear. Nod if you understand. ” The crowd gave him one swift nod in unison and he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. That was a close one. “ Thank you.” he smiled, handing the microphone back to the woman (not after turning it back on, of course) and made his way back to his spot in the crowd (the least he could do after brainwashing all of them was to not steal a good spot, they’d earned those) to watch the presentations.

Which was lovely, he’s sure, but he didn’t pay much attention to anything after his slip up. Constantly scared that someone in the crowd didn’t hear,

Someone didn’t but he wouldn’t find out for another month so for now he’d try to enjoy the show and not let him bother him. That and the fact that Xingqiu’s mist always seemed so different to his brother’s, as if it was a painstaking effort to make and maintain while his brother and father made it naturally. It was what had drawn him to the family in the first place, how much effort he seemed to put into every little image he and whoever else was performing created. Not quite natural but just as beautiful as the rest of the family and even though Chongyun knew the magical displays were an advertising ploy, he couldn’t stop himself from coming to watch them every time.

“Shit.” Xiao hissed, bursting out of his seat and running to Chongyun’s room. It had been a month since the presentation and he and Venti had never gotten around to giving Chongyun his bag but he hadn’t worried because while Chongyun admitted he had had a slip up where he’d spoken, his brother had reassured him he’d taken care of it. He’d even grabbed a microphone to mislead the audience about the amplification of his voice, he’d done everything he was meant to, 

But someone didn’t fucking hear and now there was a video of his little brother using his power all over the internet.

“What?” Chongyun looked up at him worriedly, already getting up as soon as he saw the look on Xiao’s face.

“We need to run,” Xiao replied quickly, grabbing Chongyun’s bag and Chongyun himself before dragging the younger to the kitchen.

‘What’s going on?” Chongyun questioned, speeding up to match Xiao’s pace. Rummaging through his bag as they moved to make sure he had everything he would need. Something that if he had done a week ago they could have avoided this scenario. Xiao wanted to be mad but he couldn’t bring himself to be upset, he knew it was a mistake. Chongyun was human, he couldn’t expect him to predict everything that was going to happen, so he simply sighed and said,

“Somebody didn’t hear.”

‘Fuck.’

The pair dashed to the kitchen as quick as they could, throwing open cupboards and grabbing every canned item they could and throwing them into a bag. They’d prepared for this, the last resort plan they’d had since they were kids that they’d developed over the years. They knew exactly where they were going to go and exactly what they were going to do there. They’d never expected the time to come, yes, but they’d be damned if they weren’t prepared.

“Pack your bags, we’re leaving town as soon as we can.” Xiao called to Venti, who had followed the pair into the kitchen in worry and now observed them from the doorway, “We’re fucked if favonius finds out.”

"They won't."

"What?" Xiao raised an eyebrow, Venti had seen how popular the video had gotten just like he had, the chances of Favonius not finding out were close to none. "Of course they will."

"No, I swear on my life I'll make sure they don't," Venti promised firmly, stepping into the room to get closer to Xiao, as if if he got close enough and shook Xiao hard enough the other would believe him, "Even if they do I'll make sure they don't do anything about it, I'll use my influence or something, father would be happy I finally assumed ownership, just anything to keep you two safe," he begged, dropping to his knees to be face to face with Xiao.

"Assume ownership?" Xiao repeated, Venti was a lot closer to the top than he’d thought he was. He filed that information back for later but it was irrelevant right now. They had to run because he’d rather die before he’d let the same organisation that tested on people like them get their hands on his brother.

"Shit," Venti cursed and ran a hand through his hair (a habit he’d gained from Xiao and, as far as Venti was concerned, at this rate the last thing he’d get from him), "I didn't want to tell you like this," he muttered guiltily. There was a moment of silence (the only sound Chongyun picking up a bag of cans and lugging it out of the room) and then they were alone.

"Tell me what?" Xiao repeated slowly, still placing cans into the bag he was holding.

"Who I am," Venti whispered and Xiao’s eyes widened slightly.

"Who you-" Xiao started because as much as he’d wanted to have this conversation, they did not have time for it right now. "Venti," he whispered, stopping what he was doing to look the other in the eye. This only seemed to upset the other more, though, as he began rambling before Xiao could finish speaking,

"You know as well as I do how you feel about Favonius," he interrupted frantically, "And once I found out your feelings towards my father I was too scared to tell you and-" 

"Your father?" Xiao faltered at this bit, sure Venti was related to the Favonius higher-ups but it was a very large family. He could be Decarabian’s son or Boreas’ son and it wouldn’t change much about his status so Xiao never bothered to look into it. Maybe he should have?

And Venti just stared at him as if he’d inflicted the greatest pain on him by making him admit it and Xiao buried the urge to wrap the other up in his arms by returning to putting cans in bags.

"Decarabian!" Venti admitted belatedly as if it pained him to say the man’s name, "Who else names their kid Barbatos?" he chuckled bitterly. Xiao, in fact, thought Barbatos was a very pretty (and ironic) name but it didn’t feel like the right time for that comment.

"Venti-" he said slowly, placing the can he was holding down slowly as he did so.

"Barbatos." Venti, who seemed to have determined that Xiao would not be allowed to say more than a few words in this encounter, whispered. "My name is Barbatos, Venti is a nickname." 

"Barbatos?" He said, testing the name on his tongue. He really did like it and when Venti was in a better mood he’d have to show him where the name may have come from because it truly was ironic.

"Horrible name isn't it?" Venti said self-depricatingly, "Sounds like a demon."

Nevermind, Xiao was showing him now.

"It is." he said, earning a flinch from his partner.

"What?" Venti whispered, looking as if he didn’t want to hear what Xiao would say next.

"A demon."

"Oh." 

"A Duke of hell actually." Xiao reached into his pocket with his other hand and opened his phone, "It's kind of funny." he added on as he googled what he was looking for.

"What, that I'm a Duke of hell?" Venti frowned, sounding vaguely offended as he did so.

Xiao simply rolled his eyes and gestured towards his phone, "That you're that Duke of hell." on the screen was a drawing of a man, wielding a long hunting rifle and looking rather like a robin hood character. Around him flew horns that seemed to be playing themselves. Why Xiao wouldn’t know since surely playing music would go against the point of hunting? Regardless, the image seemed to amuse Venti as much as it amused him so he’d leave the questions for later.

"That's-" Venti breathed incredulously, blinking slowly at the image "that's the man I'm named after?"

"Demon." Xiao corrected, “He’s also pictured with a bow and arrow.” he added, knowing very well that his boyfriend had a long and prosperous track record in archery.

"That makes it worse!" Venti laughed, burying his face in his hands, “Oh celestia, is that my father got me into archery?”

Xiao said after he was thoroughly satisfied with Venti’s knowledge of the duke he was named after, "I guessed."

"What?" Venti blinked, worry seeping into his demeanour once again.

"That you were related, anemo is a rare power." Xiao replied simply, "I was mad at first but the more time I spent with you the less I cared about it and eventually it just became the norm." 

"That I'm the heir of favonius."

"That you're a Duke of hell." 

Venti blushed and hit Xiao’s arm, "I don't even play the horn!"

Xiao’s face betrayed no emotion as he continued to pack the bags full of food (a different bag this time, the one from before was full), "Sure you don't, Barbie." 

"Barbie?" Venti blinked, he hadn’t heard anyone other than Kaeya call him that in over a decade and he didn’t realise how much he had missed it until then.

"If you don't like it I'll-" Xiao said quickly, believing he’d done something wrong.

"No no I love it!" Venti, back on his interrupting spree, burst in, "I just thought you'd hate me and hear you are calling me Barbie…" he laughed awkwardly but Xiao, taking revenge in his own interrupting spree, kissed the other before he could finish the thought.

The kiss was short and sweet and before he knew it Xiao was back to putting his cans in his bags, "I could never hate you." the other muttered, suddenly very invested in the can of lima beans he had picked up (the woman holding the beans on the can had beautiful hair after all).

"Thank you." Venti smiled at the other, pressing a quick kiss against his cheek and picking up a bag of cans, "Now let's grab Chongyun and plan." He walked towards the door, pushing it open to see a Chongyun-less room. Confused, he placed his bag down to enable him to move around the room quicker when he noticed it. Chongyun’s phone on the floor by the doorway,

Chongyun never left his phone behind.

"Shit shit shit." he hissed, how could they have let him out of their sight? Just so he could tell Xiao something he already knew? He felt guilt crawl through every crevice of his body as he ran towards the phone. 

It was cracked. 

Chongyun had dropped it. 

Someone had taken him.

He barely gave himself enough time to shout at Xiao to follow him before he grabbed the phone and ran down the stairs. There weren’t many people who could have taken Chongyun, not many people who had the skill or training to take a sixteen year old telepath without alerting the other telepath only a few metres away and he really hoped it wasn’t the second option.

He started fumbling with his phone, hearing Xiao close behind him as he spirited through the door, searching fervently for the contact he needed. He’d planned to call them about the situation in the first place, for advice on how to deal with it, he was just going to make that call earlier than expected, that’s all.

“Kaeya?” he shouted as soon as the other picked up.

“Yes?” his friend replied, sounding a lot more alert than he normally would be at this hour. Venti would have to apologise to him for worrying him later but right now he had more important things to say,

“Can you do me a favour?” he questioned, taking a sharp turn down an alleyway. He’d only been to the Gold Mine facility once but he had a good sense of direction so he trusted his ability to find his way there quickly.

“Anything.”

“Great.” he smiled, looking back to make sure Xiao was still nearby before continuing, “I should be at yours in a few fours, I’ll explain when we get there.”

“We?” Kaeya questioned, concern evident in his tone, “Venti what’s happening?”

“I can’t tell you right now,” he apologised, taking another turn and restraining the urge to jump over the building (Xiao couldn’t follow him if he did that), “I need you to trust me.”

“I do.” Kaeya said after a pause.

“Good.” Venti thanked, relieved. “See you.” he said before hanging up and shoving his phone back in his pocket. Just a few more minutes and they’d be there, just a few more minutes.

Venti skidded to a stop in front of a non-descript metal door with a sigh. He dusted himself off and stepped up to the door, placing his hand on the handle and pushing down hard, almost singing in joy when it opened. Thank celestia for CEO’s son privileges, they had his finger prints authorised. He held the door open for Xiao and once the other had entered he closed the door quietly.

He walked slowly down the hallway, keeping an eye and ear out for Chongyun when he saw a familiar glimpse of white, “Changsheng?” he called, holding an arm out to stop Xiao and crouched down, making a few clicking sounds with his tongue to attract her. Changsheng being here would make this a whole lot easier. 

Luckily for them, a white snake weaved down the hallway before them and gestured her head towards a door ahead of them. With no hesitation, Venti grabbed Xiao’s hand and dragged him through the door, having to bury another cry of joy when a familiar head of green hair greets him. This was going so well, almost too well but right now he couldn’t be bothered to care. They were getting Chongyun back, that’s all that mattered right then.

“Young master, I assume you’re here to put me out of a job?” Baizhu greeted lazily, patting Changsheng’s head when she slithered up to his shoulder. He sat at his desk flicking through documents without care but never looking up to the pair. Not that he needed to, Changsheng was his eyes and ears.

“Nothing of the like,” Venti dismissed friendlily, “I’m here for the teen you just had brought it.”

“Putting me out of a job then, I wonder what Zhongli will think,” Baizhu sighed, tilting his head towards the door behind him, “He’s through that door.”

Venti and Xiao locked eyes, mentally contemplating whether to trust the doctor before Xiao followed the directions to check. “He’s here.” he called back thirty seconds later, carrying his younger brother on his back his stoic facade faltering as he returned to Venti’s side.

He was back.

He hadn’t been gone for too long (only about an hour or two if you put it all together) but it was too long and Venti would be damned if he let himself have any of his loved ones taken away from him again.

“Thank you so much.” he whispered to Baizhu, ruffling a hand through Chongyun’s hair, “I’ll deal with Zhongli for you, I promise.” he grinned up at the other.

“I think I can deal with my own husband,” Baizhu replied simply, no change in tone from how he was speaking before, “Now leave before my shift is over.” he shooed them off, briefly looking up from his paperwork to raise his eyebrow.

“Thank you again,” Venti thanked profusely, “I’m sure you can do something at the parlour!”

“I don’t think I’m qualified for that kind of job.” Baizhu hummed, before pulling a piece of paper out of the pile and placing it on the table. “Before you leave. He has untreated congenital positivity, he should avoid passionate moods or hot conditions until he can get medicated for it.” and with that, the pair of men broke out into a run once more.

“Parlour?” Xiao would ask once they were far away from the facility, “Does his husband work at a funeral parlour?”

“No no no, at wangsheng,” Venti chuckled at his boyfriend’s morbid train of thought, “Didn’t you get your sleeve done there?”

Xiao’s eyes widen with recognition, “The guy with the ones that look like his arms are disintegrating?” he asked, gesturing to his arms.  

“That’s the one!” Venti nodded before gesturing to an alleyway to their right, “Follow me.”

They walked in silence for a while, running purely on adrenaline and courage. At one point Chongyun had woken up and insisted that he walked by himself and Xiao (too mentally tired to do anything) just let him be. They all knew that they’d left their lives behind with the world’s easiest escape and they weren’t sure if they were ready but they’d take it in their stride. 

Plus Venti had his own group of interesting people to turn to and they could carry for the trio until they could walk on their own.

Chongyun on the other hand, who had literally been kidnapped and brought to a shady testing facility with a creepy snake doctor within the past 24 hours, could testify that nothing on this cursed planet could prepare him for the Xingqiu (the one and only) opening the appropriately shady door Venti had knocked on. 

Xingqiu was equally shocked so the result was two teenage boys mentally spluttering at the other for two very different reasons, "You're-" Xingqiu stuttered, physically unable to say what he wanted to say, “Kaeya! There’s people at the door.” he called behind himself instead.

“Who?” a voice (who was presumably Kaeya) called back.

“A guy with teal braids, a guy with dark hair and-” Xingqiu started to describe, returning to the same mental blockade when he tried to refer to Chongyun.

“And?”

“And-” he tried again before giving up, “And a guy with blue hair.” he finished.

A few moments later a man with dark blue hair and an eyepatch came to the door, leaning against the wall as he raised an eyebrow, “So, Venti,” he started, “Care to explain what’s going on?”

“What can I say?” Venti shrugged at the other, “I get around a lot.”

“Ven,” the man speaks slowly, as if speaking to a disobedient child, “Did you get into a fight?”

Venti rolled his shoulder and gave the taller a crooked smirk, “You should see the other guy.”

‘Fight is an overstatement’ Xiao, who’s mind was still coming to terms with whatever had happened in his life in the past few hours, commented. Earning a snort from Chongyun and (surprisingly) a  raised eyebrow from the man in the doorway.

“Overstatement?” the man breathed incredulously, “Venti, did you beat up a child?”

Xiao’s mind skidded to a stop at that. Why on earth did this man know what he’d said, he hadn’t said that aloud… had he? ‘What?’ he thought at his brother (who was giggling at the notion of Venti beating up a child) when the man, who didn’t understand what he had done, gave him a look.

“What do you mean what?” the man asked.

“You’re telepathic,” Xiao stated in place of an answer, returning the man’s unamused look.

“Among many things, yes?”

Xiao huffed, “And here I thought my day wouldn’t get crazier.” Chongyun, on the other hand, was very excited to meet a telepath other than his brother and brightly thought greetings at the stranger with a small wave.

The stranger waved back confused before turning back to Venti, “Care to explain why Elsa and” he pauses, looking at Xiao before continuing, “Sabrina the teenage witch have accompanied you to my hideout?” Chongyun, who was more than amused at the comparison of his elder brother to Sabrina the teenage witch, giggled while Xiao, who was less than amused to be compared to Sabrina the teenage witch, turned his head up to glare at the taller when something caught his eye (pun intended). 

“Your eye-” he gasped, in his stress, he must have subconsciously activated his power because he saw the same seeping green flowing from the stranger’s eye as he saw from a dead animal on the road. A green he should never see on a living person.

The stranger chuckled emptily and shrugged at the comment, “Sorry bud, that’s friendship level seven information.”

“No,” Xiao rolled his eyes, he couldn’t care less about how it got like that right now, he was far more invested in how it was still there, “It’s dead.” he stated simply.

“Where’d you get that idea?” the other snorted, he wasn’t taking Xiao seriously. Great. “Just because I cover it doesn’t mean it’s dead.”

“It’s dead,” Xiao insisted, “It’s been so for several years at this point.” about a decade was Xiao’s best guess, give or take a few years, but he didn’t stare at dead things enough to work our precise times of death from them. Just a vague idea.

“How do you know?” the man repeated, all humour he may have found in the situation quickly draining at Xiao’s insistence.

“The same way I know your plant is dead too.” Xiao huffed, tilting himself to a slightly wilted looking calla lily in the vase by the door. It wasn’t really dead, just on the edge, but it was close enough for him to be able to sense it.

The man inspected him for a few moments before his eyes widened and he whispered, “Necromancy… Not really.” he sighed, finally accepting that his corrupted eye was a lot more corruption than eye after all, and moving to leave space for the trio at the door, “Well, that’s a lot to unpackage… inside. Xingqiu please show this lovely gentleman to the spare room.” 

Xingqiu gave the elder man a firm nod before gesturing for Chongyun to follow him, looking like he was holding back an entire waterfall of emotion every time their eyes met. Chongyun could only watch for so long before he muttered, “Order dismissed.” to satisfy his guilt.

And when Xingqiu practically shouts, “You’re the guy from the presentation!” Chongyun regrets everything. Venti does give him a thumbs up though, so at least he has that on his side. 

Xiao, on the other hand, Xiao was only thinking one thing, ‘Cute.’

“Fuck you.”

Xiao winced, mentally preparing for the consequences for Chongyun speaking aloud when he realised belatedly that nothing was happening, “Wait…” he breathed incredulously, when did Chongyun learn how to do that?

Venti, meanwhile, found it very amusing, “The first time he-” Venti spluttered, grasping his stomach as the laughed, “And it’s to-” his laughter got louder the longer he thought about it and Xiao felt torn between offence, incredulity and pride as he tried to process the situation. This was the first time he’d heard his brother speak normally since he was seven and it was to tell him to fuck off?

It was an interesting situation.

A situation that their host was not privy too and was very confused about. Despite that Kaeya had a feeling that these three would fit in just fine.