College au, Everyone is in College, Chongyun Favoritism, gender neutral
Childe
Very obvious campus heartthrob, the ones that only exist in movies.
Seriously, he’s got everything. A stable source of income, a guarantee at his future back in Snezhnaya, his looks, the latest wardrobe, etc etc you get the gist.
You thought you’d never come across him. That he’ll probably be a fleeting sight in the courtyard everytime you switch classes.
Until you meet him at the most obscure place you could think of—a basement floor store hidden in plain sight, selling wares that specifically catered to niche demographics. It was a tiny shop you found during middle school, and since then you stuck by it, even as you grew out of your embarassing initial phases and adopted a more mature taste.
Cue Ajax, also known as Childe on campus, reaching out to the doujin section that was next to your isle.
That was when you found out…
That Childe was a closet weeb.
Dressed in a plain hoodie and jeans as well as…sandals?!
And perhaps as a cheap effort to help hide his identity, a pair of fake glasses with a beanie. But that mop of ginger hair gave everything away to you.
As soon as you uttered out his name in disbelief, he immediately went into fight or flight mode, before slipping because he wore sandals during a rainy day.
He was pleasantly surprised to see you act so unbothered about everything. How you helped him up, before asking what he was looking for. Upon an onslaught of persistance coming from your behalf, he ended up revealing what he had came from—a doujin from an artist he admired that detailed the girl of his dreams… in a generic harem anime.
You simply flowed with the conversation, and he was left stunned at how you didn’t seem to be disgusted after your initial shock, instead informing him that you liked the same artist and even offered to let him borrow some of your stuff!
You became quick friends, and was the first person he felt comfortable having watch sessions together with anime. He’s had movie nights before, but he always chose something more mainstream. But when the two of you are on his couch, crying after watching Madoka Magica and laughing at fanservice shots on the new trash show of the season, he knew he made the right choice of befriending you.
Xiao
Women fear me cats love me
That’s right, the mysterious, resident emo boy with painted nails and hints of piercings was… a total softie with cats.
You figured this out one night on a late Thursday returning from the library, having just finished some research for a project.
You were tired, your makeup was smudged, and you just hastily stuffed everything in your bag—papers and all, just praying to the irl RNG gods that everything will be fine.
What you didn’t expect on what was supposedly a midnight trek to your place was a black figure, hunched over.
You thought it was a ghost, and with the amount of times you’ve been bingewatching horror movies for spooky season was not helping your perception of reality.
Until the figure turned around, revealing green, dyed locks, sharp eyes, and pale hands holding onto… a kitten.
The two of you didn’t even move for two full moments, not believing the other’s appearance. Until Xiao, very sporadically, yelled a brief remark of “you never saw me😡” (quite rudely too) before running off with the kitten in hand.
You ran off that night with two things in mind. First, the mysterious emo boy everyone would comment on but never approached actually talked to you, second, he must have a fondness for cats.
And suddenly, that instagram account of his—one that had thousands of followers yet only three posts did not feel so intimidating.
You started sending him cat posts out of context, and although he didn’t expect them, nor you at first, he gradually came to accept them. From liking your messages to actually replying, even if they were just half assed “haha”s or “cute”.
Eventually, you started to actually hang out with him, and after a few talks, found many more correlating interests.
Fast forward and now he’s your gaming buddy, and not to flex, but probably the person he talks to the most on discord too.
Bonus: you got him to be friends with Childe, and although they butt heads a lot they do share some favorite shows and games that calls for neutral ground and very fun bonding sessions.
Chongyun
Upon first stumbling upon him you thought nothing much. He lived in your home area before you up and left for college, but nothing else came to mind.
That was until you heard him one night when you were out with friends for karaoke, and stumbled upon some rather... heavy singing in the stall next to yours.
You decided to take a peek through the small glass window on the doors during your walk to the bathroom at the end of the hall, and unexpectedly, you were met with that same calm, ice colored eyes and hair that belonged to your precious junior, only to have said junior be flushed red as he stood on top of a table, screaming his heart out.
And then, it hit you.
The hard electric guitar, the sound of teenagers stirring up a riot, the battle of the bands during your senior year that was said to be the most intense event your hometown had in quite a while.
All because a newcomer had crawled onto the stage and completely obliterated the speakers and microphones, in the middle of another band's performance. Instead of stopping, they kept rocking on, and as all this mayhem and noise practically blew through the roof of the gymnasium, you were busy in the far back, trying to wash off spilled soda on your top.
You didn't put two and two together at first because that night, the intense lighting had obscured his face from the far back, but judging by his reaction when you brought it up to him next morning, it was evident that he was the culprit.
The boy had immediately turned red, sputtering out excuses and whatnot that were technically in vain as you already knew that the blood rushing to his face confirmed everything.
He ended up just spilling the means, stating multiple times that in the moments he got too heated up he'd swerve and loose control of himself, often landing into the most embarrassing of situations when he came to.
"Please don't tell anyone..."
You promised him you wouldn't, and struck up a new friendship gradually after talking more about your hometown. Exchanging contact infos, you started waving to each other whenever you crossed paths in campuses, and it's not uncommon for you to sometimes spend breathers between classes under a tree together.
He's a sweet boy from home you never expected to meet, but glad to make friends with nonetheless.