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One look at him wasn’t enough for Xiao to fall for him. It didn't take even 10 looks, but with every day he saw him, his features grew more defined, his nose rounder and his cheekbones a slightly more rosy color daily beneath the autumn Liyue sun. A few stray hairs from his long braid grew more and more prevalent as his gaze caught onto his figure, and slowly his desire to comb those hairs with his fingers waxed into a full moon.
It was under a full moon that he first saw Aether for who he was, not a mere mortal or an outlander worthy of his attention, but as a being, a creature who breathed the cool February air and whose flaws were illuminated by the twinkling lanterns floating closer to the sky as he stared. This was the first time he had fallen in love with imperfection, was flabbergasted by how breathtaking it was, textured pores and a pale scar beneath his chin the image of beauty far beyond what he was capable of comprehending. How could a human make him ponder his judgment of the world? To plant a seed of warmth in his chest he hadn’t felt in millennia’s? To finally rest in his lap a broken flask he never thought he’d see again, one labeled desire? A desire to see this seed of light grow, to take his deepest roots of gentleness and compassion and revive them, all to please this mere mortal he’d just met?
It was absurd, but the weight on his chest had lifted ever so slightly, and he found himself experiencing another feeling he thought he’d never find again: pleasure. Aether was pleasing to look at, a delight to have beside him, a comfort he never expected to find in a mere human. He’d murdered more mortals than he can count, devoured their dreams whole like a parasite, and his touch was cursed if he dared to experience intimacy with a human.
It was absurd how every word the traveler mustered, affection and affirmations and all, crept into his soul, and with time, he began to believe them.