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Lumine couldn't believe her ears.
The whole situation could not be more bizarre. Moments ago she was on her way to Wangshuu Inn for a comission and suddenly it all spiraled out of control resulting into this moment.
Not that she was complaining. Xiao, trying to evade her eyes while offering a Qingxing flower, awaiting for an answer. An answer she was having troubles voicing out of sheer disbelief.
“It's... okay if you don't--”
“I do!” she blurted, panic flaring the tips of her ears. “Of course I want to go to the lantern festival with you, Xiao!” she plucked the Qingxing from his hand, gingerly, and pressed it against her chest.
“For a moment I...” he sighed. “Nevermind.”
She laughed a bit, embarrasement washing over the realization she had maybe stood silent for a good while. “I'm so sorry, Xiao, I'm just that surprised”
“Don't think too much of it”, he stated, dryly.
“So Xiao is slowly starting to relax more around people, don't he?” croaked Paimon, floating around them. “You're going to like it a lot! There's a lot of tasty food and everyone is really happy and there's tons of fireworks...”
Their eyes met while Paimon continued enlisting every single thing Lantern Rite was memorable for, but they weren't really listening. Xiao wasn't that great on the aspect of showing emotions, but to Lumine, having fought alongside him for over a year now, the way he gazed at her and then the floor and to her again made her chest nearly explode with tenderness. And she knew right there that this supposed comission for the Inn was more than Verr Goldet's second attempt to make Xiao experience life. It was Xiao himself, opening up enough to actually ask for something. Developing and coming out of his shell for something as simple as to make her come to the Inn, suspecting something entirely different. She raised her hand to his cheek. Xiao jumped a bit, startled, but ultimately allowed her to caress his cheek with the back of his hand, relaxing and leaning almost unpercievably to her warm gesture. He closed his eyes and sighed.
And then they realized the place had gone deadly quiet.
They were standing face to face in the middle of the main hall. Paimon, Huai'an, the Boss and the few staff members around them were frozen solid, mouths agape. Lumine pulled her hand back and Xiao immediately don his mask and teleported away. Lumine pursed her lips, uncomfortable as hell, and swiftly stared at Verr Goldet, who finally let out a cheery short laugh and raised an optimistic thumb. Paimon floated all the way to her side, suspiciously silent.
“Come on”, Lumine suggested, tiredly. “Give me the worst you have”.
The little fairy cleared her throat. “You know, I just wanted to say...” she made a short pause so Lumine could face her directly. “About Xiao and you?” her friend furrowed her blonde eyebrows, thinking she might actually have something of value to say. “Xiao and Lumine SITTING ON A TREE” she broke to sing at the middle of the phrase.
“Forget it!” She started walking up the stairs, swatting at Paimon.
“K – I – S – S – I – N – G!”
“What?” Xiao turned back to stare at her, who had stopped a few steps behind him. The light of the sunset hiding behind the rocks of Mount Tianhen mixed with the soft orange glow coming from Liyue Harbor made him look ethereal, and Lumine smiled.
“I'm just not sure how much of Liyue are you willing to stand for today”, she said, and stepped down to where he was standing. “You hate crowds and it can get packed”.
Xiao turned his face to look at the city, and when he spoke, his voice was barely more than a whisper.
“Pervases... was fond of Grilled Tiger Fish.”
“I remember”, she said, reassuring him she was listening.
“You...” he doubted, “take me where I can eat some of that.”
Lumine smiled and hauled Xiao's hand, softly gripping it between hers. Then she softly pulled, leading the way.
“I know the perfect place.”
Xiao let her guide him, allowing himself the selfish joy he felt at her touch, instead of worrying about the karmic stain he might soil her with. He had come to realize there was simply no way for her to be blemished that easily. She had always been a being of pure light.
Lumine felt him doubt only once, when they finished crossing the red bridge leading straight to the busiest part of the harbor. She felt it in the light squeeze he gave to her hand, almost unperceptible. She offered him a smile.
“Hey”. He was staring away from the crowd, focusing on the pavement. “Xiao” she called him, and then cupped his face softly with her free hand, “don't worry, I'm right here”, and kept going, afraid he would teleport away at any time, “I'll protect you”.
Sensing the natural perfume of her skin, Xiao once again leaned into her hand, and then huffed, “You're the strangest”. Surprised, Lumine felt her cheeks flaring to the touch of Xiao's free hand over her cupped one, lacing their fingers together. “Guide me”, he said, lowering their hands.
She took great care in avoiding the most crowded places, finally arriving at the temporary stall Cheng the Sharp opened especially for the Lantern Rite, away from his usual spot in Chihu Rock.
Xiao glanced the beaming smile Lumine wore while prompting him to sit at one of the stools. “You look happy”, he pointed.
“I got invited to Lantern Rite by Xiao nonetheless! Can you imagine? This is our first date!” she explained after requesting two servings of Grilled Fish. “Of course I'm happy!”
He stared at her in awe for a second, before clearing his throat.
“Make sure you never forget about this!” he claimed, proudly.
“Hear ya!” she sang merrily.
“What is this lousy intent of a corporeal disguise, Retainer?” Zhongli said behind a gray haired woman standing in the middle of one of the raised corridors avobe the main stairs of Liyue Harbor, right in front of the great Mingxiao lantern. Her outfit was remarkably absent of any sort of characterization, and she could only be spotted away from the crowd in the piercing black eyes she couldn't quite manage to conceal. Next to her, a reddish-hair male was, apparently, bored beyond his wits, pushing air to his face with a fan. They both were looking at two completely different directions. And, to be specific, Cloud Retainer was looking through a collapsable spyglass. “Also, I thought you had long stopped using that... apparatus of yours”.
“She caught a glimpse of Alatus near the harbor with a certain traveler we know well”, said the male, “now she can't stop looking”. They hadn't seen the old lady walking by Zhongli, grabbing his arm. She let out a delighted laugh.
“Ah, those kids and their juvenile blooming love make your heart flutter, don't you think, Carver?”
Moon Carver only raised his eyebrows in response, and spoke above Cloud Retainer's huff of “kids?”; “One believes you in that department, Ping. One's only desire now is for humans to start the Mingxiao monument so we can return to Jueyun Karst promptly”.
Cloud Retainer collapsed the spyglass and threw a vague gesture with her human hand to Moon Carver. “Had one known your disposition today would be like this, one would have happily persisted for you to stay home with Mountain Shaper”.
“Now, quell your hostilities, my friends”, Zhongli said, palms showing, “it's not common we're all here together like we used to, like a fa...” he progressively slowed his phrasing, taking in the full extent of what they've said moments earlier. “Retainer, would you be so kind...?” Without a single word, Cloud Retainer extended her spyglass and allowed Zhongli to have it.
“To the left, Rex” she instructed. “Among the two purple umbrellas”.
He saw Xiao, fingers interlocked below his chin, propped on his elbows over the counter of the Grilled Fish Stall, softly gazing a smiling Lumine, excitedly telling him whatever story she judged of interest to the Conqueror of Demons.
“Well, would you look at that!” Zhongli exclaimed, with a paternal laugh.
A soft voice allowed itself to rise between the group, verging in amused.
“What are you all doing?” Ganyu stared at them, confused.
“Just... write whatever you want”, she insisted, seeing Xiao struggling to finish his lantern.
“Wish...” he sighed. “We Adepti do not w... what are you writing in yours?” Lumine stared at him, furrowing her eyebrows upwards. “If you don't want to tell me it's fine...”
She swiftly answered “For all my friends to be on good health, for a safe travel to find my brother...” she hesitated a bit on the last part, “and for you and me, to be here next year.”
Xiao felt a squeeze deep into his chest. But still could not think on what to write. Wishes were reserved for mortals. And anyways, what he really wanted was something he didn't think he could write in a lantern, just like that.
“Leave it blank then”, Lumine said. “I have a plan”. She grabbed him by the hand again, and he just let her lead him below to water level, to a small, apparently forgotten boat. She stepped in carefully, trying to keep the lantern safe, and then sat and patted the place next to her for him to sit. He did so, obediently, not daring to keep his eyes away from her. She filled her lungs with air, and released her lantern, that went up the sky, slowly being pushed by the breeze. Lumine turned and placed her hands over Xiao's, staring into his eyes.
“You don't need to answer out loud, this is going to be something for you to think, okay?”
“Understood.”
So serious. She chuckled. “Close your eyes”. Xiao huffed, but still complied. Just who did she think she was, bossing him around and making him enjoy it? “What is the one thing you like the most in this world?” Cool, misty mornings, the smell of rain over the rice fields, fresh clothes after drying in the sunlight. Lumine. “Now, imagine what would happen if you could have a hundred of those, or a lifetime of those. Would it make you happy?” He had enough with only her. “If the answer is yes, then that's your wish”. He was lucky enough by being with her. “Just ask for that wish, with everything you have”. He opened his eyes, and found Lumine's smile, and her eyes admiring him in a way it made his hands tremble and his heart flutter. He let the lantern go, and up it went. Before she could turn to look at it, Xiao placed his index finger knuckle below her chin, turning her face to him, stopping for an instant to appreciate the lovely red shade her face had turned, before chastily kissing her once.
His heart set ablaze when immediately Lumine's lips locked with his, answering to the caress. They broke apart slightly, lips still touching, and she let a sigh ghost over his mouth, staring at him through heavy lids. He catched her again, kissing once more, feeling now her hands burying in his hair. Once more they broke away, Xiao making use of the chance to gulp heavily as he placed both hands on the waist of the girl in front of him, who greedily searched for his mouth once again, letting him feel once more a delightfully shaky sigh. His eyebrows furrowed as this kiss deepened, pulling her closer to him. She let one hand trail down to his chest, backing slightly so she could stare into his eyes as she felt the fast drumming of his heart, smiling at him sweetly. Xiao closed his hand over the one she had placed on his chest, and connected his forehead to hers.
The Mingxiao lantern started moving then, shaped after a gigantic crystalfly. The young couple admired the firework display as it made its way to the sky, that hand at his chest now interlocking fingers with his, set over Lumine's knee, as she happily nuzzled her cheek on his shoulder and he did the same over the top of her head.
“Carver! Let's go now!”
Moon Carver did not lower the spyglass pointing to the boat the happy couple occupied, despite Cloud Retainer's call. Zhongli had to pluck it away from his hands.