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“Come on, Xiao,” the traveler said, and gave him a gentle slap on the back to encourage him. “After all the struggles we went through to organize the festival again this year, you should keep your promise as well.”
“They are right,” Verr Goldet behind the counter agreed and looked back and forth between Xiao and the Traveler in front of her. “And whoever breaks a promise is supposed to swallow 1000 needles if I remember correctly.”
Xiao clicked his tongue and a sigh escaped him then. Of course, they were right and the promise between them–he wanted to hold onto it, not breaking it. “I don’t like the crowds of humans, you know that.” It wasn’t an attempt to find an excuse to not go to the Lantern Rite festival, but it felt like some unknown power held him back.
Verr Goldet waved at the traveler, and they walked towards her, Xiao following with his eyes and a skeptical expression. They talked in low voices, mostly with simple handsigns and before Xiao was able to walk away, up to the balcony to get some fresh air, the traveler turned back around to him.
They pressed their fists against their hips and looked with a stern expression at Xiao, who took half a step backwards with that change of mood in their eyes. “Verr Goldet has something to show me now, you’ll be waiting here until we’re back,” they explained while Verr Goldet walked around the counter, a neutral expression. “It won’t take too long!”
The confusion was written all over his face before he was able to get control over it. “Ah–” Though before Xiao could say anything, the two of them already disappeared in front of him. The way Verr Goldet turned around again with a worried expression was enough to tell him that something was off here. What did they plan right in front of his eyes?
Besides them, they all were kinda strange today. Ganyu and Xiangling, Hu Tao even more than usual. Asking him questions about his favorite place and food, where he would spend the festival and if he asked someone already to join him in the evening.
Whenever he answered, he promised the Traveler to accompany them, their expression changed to something he wasn’t able to name. This festival turned everyone crazy in their mind.
“Xiao.”
Hearing his name, Xiao looked up from the ground, and the grip on the counter loosened when his eyes met with Zhongli’s. The smile on his lips, the sunset in the background–Zhongli so close felt out of this world.
“Did I make you wait?” Zhongli asked, keeping his gentle smile while moving towards Xiao.
Xiao’s eyes fell back on the ground, and he swallowed the lump in his throat down before he answered him. “There’s no way you could make me wait.” His eyes wandered up Zhongli’s legs and chest, before meeting his eyes again. “Is there anything you need from me? You should have called me and I’d–”
“There is nothing in particular I need from you,” Zhongli interrupted Xiao and stopped right in front of him. “I heard you have no one to go to the festival, and that is why I wanted to know if we could go together this year?”
It took Xiao a few seconds to process the words. “Of course–I mean, I promised the Traveler to go with them and–” He didn’t know how to finish the sentence, Zhongli’s eyes on him made him feel like pudding.
“Oh really?” Zhongli took the chance to speak again. “I met them downstairs, and they told me they would go with Keqing and Yanfei.”
The gears in Xiao’s brain connected and his face flamed up. They all knew and set him up here. Even going as far as letting Verr Goldet in. “I–I’d be happy to accompany you.”