But man... Shinji and Xiaolang's relationship has grown a LOT since that first fateful thread about otherkin. At first Xiaolang mostly saw Shinji as some bratty elementary school kid who played dirty at Children's Card Games, and now...
... well, he's still a bratty elementary school kid, but over time, Xiaolang's gotten kind of protective over him? Considering he's the youngest on the app and has to deal with the rest of this crazy shit, that's reason enough, but knowing that Shinji's got some messed up memories thanks to all of this certainly helped too. He doesn't want to coddle him, since god knows he hates that himself and he knows Shinji is a clever, whip-smart kid, but he'll do his damnedest to keep him safe if he can help it. Xiaolang's always the baby of the bunch, be it with his sisters or at home with Leon, or whatever group thing Retrospec is doing that doesn't involve Shinji, so being the older, mentor figure for once is... new? And a bit different? Of course, Xiaolang's always been a mature kid, so he's good at being responsible, but it's just... a whole other experience for him.
He'd probably be a little embarrassed to call him his friend, since what self-respecting 9th grader is friends with an elementary schooler, but... they definitely friends. Even if Shinji calls him out on never using Snopes and Xiaolang refuses to let him touch his sword 8')
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But man... Shinji and Xiaolang's relationship has grown a LOT since that first fateful thread about otherkin. At first Xiaolang mostly saw Shinji as some bratty elementary school kid who played dirty at Children's Card Games, and now...
... well, he's still a bratty elementary school kid, but over time, Xiaolang's gotten kind of protective over him? Considering he's the youngest on the app and has to deal with the rest of this crazy shit, that's reason enough, but knowing that Shinji's got some messed up memories thanks to all of this certainly helped too. He doesn't want to coddle him, since god knows he hates that himself and he knows Shinji is a clever, whip-smart kid, but he'll do his damnedest to keep him safe if he can help it. Xiaolang's always the baby of the bunch, be it with his sisters or at home with Leon, or whatever group thing Retrospec is doing that doesn't involve Shinji, so being the older, mentor figure for once is... new? And a bit different? Of course, Xiaolang's always been a mature kid, so he's good at being responsible, but it's just... a whole other experience for him.
He'd probably be a little embarrassed to call him his friend, since what self-respecting 9th grader is friends with an elementary schooler, but... they definitely friends. Even if Shinji calls him out on never using Snopes and Xiaolang refuses to let him touch his sword 8')