Chapter Text
Xiao woke in an abode he could not remember returning to, in a bed he could not recall entering. There was a gentle pressure weighing on his arm, and he turned dizzily to its source.
Aether was kneeling at the side of the bed, asleep with his cheek against the mattress. His arm was draped carelessly over Xiao’s hand.
Xiao nearly fell out of bed in his haste to get away from the other. His sudden scramble backwards woke Aether, who blinked drearily up at him. Slowly his sleepiness gave way to concern.
“What’s wrong?” Aether asked.
Xiao sat upright at the far corner of the mattress, putting as much distance between them as he could.
“You shouldn’t be so close,” he snapped, voice heavy with exhaustion.
“It’s okay,” Aether shook his head, pointing to a teacup that sat on the wooden stand beside the bed. “Granny Rouxin gave me something that would protect me. It kept that black smoke from touching me.”
Xiao’s eyes grew wide at that, but he didn’t come any closer.
“I made some with the spring water. I tried to make you drink it, but…” Aether’s voice fell away as his face contorted, and Xiao wondered what he was remembering that Xiao could not.
“It wouldn’t work,” Xiao said with black confidence. “Not on me.”
He noticed then the glass potion bottle, now empty, beside the teacup.
“You drank it?”
Aether nodded, running a hand over his head. His hair was as short as Xiao had seen it last, still bound in the braid he had crafted.
“Maybe it takes a while,” Aether shrugged, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Xiao wondered how long he had been kneeling there, waiting for Xiao to wake. The thought made him squirm.
“What did Granny Rouxin tell you?” Xiao asked.
Aether looked away, as if he couldn’t stand to say it.
“She told me you would stain my soul.”
Xiao let out a breath. He rubbed at his wrists, feeling the ache of his joints from battle.
“The people of Liyue believe Morax and the yaksha slew the old gods. But gods can’t be killed. We could only trap their physical forms within the earth. Once they learned they could never break free their minds turned from escape to revenge.”
Xiao rested his hand against his chest, as if it pained him.
“Every demon I slay is a poisoned arrow from the gods.They use their hatred to corrupt me. That corruption is too much for a mortal soul to bear. That’s why the villagers fear me.”
Aether’s stomach churned at the thought. He had only tasted a few moments of that suffering. Xiao had been eaten by it for centuries. His throat bobbed, and he opened his mouth to speak with a voice he was not sure he could keep from breaking.
“I owe you an apology,” Xiao said, before Aether could begin.
“What?”
“I should have never let you come here. I knew I shouldn’t let you come so close but I just - ” Xiao hesitated, feeling he had never said so much and so quickly. But Aether’s golden eyes were on him, expectant, hanging on every word.
“You looked so defeated. I hated it,” Xiao grimaced. “I had to help.”
Aether knew what to say then, knew it down to his very core. He moved to sit cross-legged on the bed, closing the distance between them, and reached his hand out to Xiao.
“I want to help you too.”
For a moment Xiao’s fingers straightened where they rested at his side, as if longing to reach forward. Then his expression clouded, the hope in his eyes quickly growing guarded.
“You can’t,” he uttered. “You can’t fight demons.”
Aether kept his hand firmly outstretched.
“I know. That’s not what I mean,” Aether said, shaking his head. “Let me be the one person in Liyue who doesn’t fear you. Let me stay with you longer, so you don’t have to be alone.”
Xiao was gazing at Aether’s open palm, brows strained.
“It’s not safe for you.”
“I’ll be okay. I’ll get more tea from Granny.”
“That’s not…” Xiao squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, growing flustered. “You should be in Liyue Harbor with your friends. There’s more for you there than I can offer.”
Aether smiled sadly.
“Even in a sea of people, I feel alone in Liyue Harbor. I’ve never felt lonely here with you.”
Xiao’s jaw worked, muscles straining beneath his cheeks.
Aether’s fingers beckoned him forward.
“Please.”
For a long, silent moment Aether feared he could not get through to the adepti. Then Xiao’s hand reached, and hovered nervously above Aether’s.
Xiao looked past Aether’s shoulder, and his eyes widened.
“Aether.”
Aether turned his head, and felt the heavy sweep of his hair behind him. He swept it forward over one shoulder, watching the thick strands drape down his chest and pool in his lap.
Aether let out a startled laugh, marveling at the sight.
“It worked!” he grinned at Xiao in delight.
Xiao didn’t dare look up. His cheeks were flushed as he stared down at the sheets.
Aether remembered all that he had said in front of Xiao and Fen, about partners and ceremonies and traditions, and felt the warmth of embarrassment.
“It’s okay,” Aether soothed.
Xiao looked up, barely, nervously.
“I shouldn’t have told you to forget your past. It was careless. I didn’t know…” Xiao dared to glimpse Aether’s hands as they combed through his hair. “You must have felt terrible that night.”
Aether hummed under his breath, weighing Xiao’s anxious confession.
“I hated the thought of anyone else seeing me like that. But when it was you…” Aether trailed, hands stilling with his thoughts.
“What?” Xiao asked as Aether’s face flickered.
“I didn’t mind.”
Aether extended his hand to Xiao once more, his face perfectly open as he spoke.
“I feel safe with you.”
Xiao’s throat leapt at the confession. Safe. It was so far from fear, the only thing people had ever regarded him with.
It was senseless, but Xiao couldn’t deny the way the words made him ache.
Aether’s hand was an open invitation, and Xiao took it at last. Their thin fingers slotted together until Aether could feel the warmth of their palms pressed.
They both stared transfixed at the place where their skin touched.
When their gazes met, Aether swore there was something in Xiao’s expression that he hadn’t seen before.
“I’ll always protect you,” Xiao said. “I’ve always wanted to protect you. From the day I gave you my name.”
“I want more than your protection,” Aether murmured.
He leaned in to Xiao, narrowing the gap between them. Xiao’s breath caught in his chest, realizing Aether’s intentions. He leaned away, lips barely parting to form a murmured hesitation. But Aether had seen the truth already, the fear and hope lurking in the adepti’s expression.
Aether cupped his hand to the side of Xiao’s face, brushing the dark curtain of his bangs back behind his ear. Whatever protest Xiao had begun to form he quickly swallowed.
Their fingers curled tighter against each others’.
“I want you,” Aether whispered.
It was Xiao that closed the distance between them. Their kiss was the barest brush of their lips, hesitant, unfamiliar.
Then again.
Then again, until hesitation gave way to hunger.
Xiao’s fingers sank reverently through the soft strands of hair at the back of Aether’s neck.
Aether gave a wobbly, pleased smile at the touch. He had craved this almost without knowing it, craved it the first time Xiao’s fingers brushed his neck as he braided his hair in the spring.
Xiao touched him like he was holy. Xiao kissed him as a man starved. Aether was content to sate him.
When they parted breathless at last Aether laughed, the delighted release of the energy thrumming in his veins.
Xiao laughed too. It was a low, breathy sound, and Aether’s heart thrilled at the sound of it.
“You should sleep,” Aether urged.
Xiao looked down at the bed beneath him.
“You won’t leave?” he asked.
Aether smirked, looking at the stone walls surrounding them.
“I never did find the exit.”
“Tch.”
Aether was about to leave the room when Xiao called out after him, his voice soft.
“Thank you.”
Aether turned back.
“For what?”
The adepti’s expression softened into the barest smile.
“For not being afraid.”
When Xiao was asleep Aether made his way through the dark corridors of the abode to the rocky ledge where he had first arrived. He sat at the edge, dangling his legs over the dark void.
Thousands of stars burned in that strange black sky. They were golden, and far more luminous than Aether remembered.
He gazed up at their light, and thought for the first time that this strange, beautiful place felt like home.