Work Text:
Bloodstained dress rustles as it bunches into a white flower, crimson specked petals. Lumine collapses onto a wooden chair in Wangshu Inn as he lowers her from his arms. Gentle. Easy. The softness of his movement is a stark contradiction to his furious expression.
"You!" Xiao growls, his hands balled into fists. A raging wind coils itself underneath his skin, snapping at his patience until he feels about to burst. "What were you thinking, getting in my way like that!"
It is less a question and more a condemnation. Or a desperate plea.
Still, Lumine mulls over his question with a naive seriousness that makes him want to bare his teeth and snarl. "I wasn't really thinking," she says quietly, as if in awe—of her own stupid action. "I saw the arrow headed for you... and I just jumped."
"But I knew it was coming!"
She blinks. "I knew that too," she says, words careful. “But I couldn't help it."
Xiao forces himself to exhale. He refuses to lose control. He refuses to take her shoulders and shake her until all the foolishness is expelled from her, so that he could stop worrying over—
He also refuses to finish that thought.
Lumine smiles wryly at his silent rage. "Don't worry. It’s nothing so dangerous. I heal quickly, remember?"
She's right; already, the wound on her shoulder is scabbing over, ceasing the sluggish flow of crimson as punctured flesh knits itself back together again. Her constitution mirrored that of the adepti, immortal and quick to heal. She dabs at the slick blood with a clean linen Verr Goldet had given her.
The arrow had long been taken out on their way back. Xiao had leapt through the air with all the speed he could muster, the acrid scent of metal choking his lungs. When she’d been shot, Lumine had pulled the arrow by the shaft with a tug of her hand, bloody and savage and uncaring as she tossed it over her shoulders.
It was not a fatal wound. But. "That is—" He takes a ragged breath and tries not to yell. Tries not to splinter apart. "That is not the point. You should not have done that."
"… I should not have," she agrees, an impenetrable calm.
He does flash his fangs at her this time. "Then why?"
She shrugs, the newly formed scab stretching at the movement. His eyes can't help but dart to it, the expanse of new, raw skin. "I couldn't help it. I didn't think at all. I just..." She tilts her head and furrows her brows, as if she herself didn’t know the answer to his question. Worries her lips, with teeth sinking into pink flesh, as she replies, "I only thought about making sure you were safe. I couldn’t bear it otherwise."
Her words hurt more than any arrow could, a blunt metal tip twisting itself into raw flesh.
"I was safe," he rasps. "I could have taken that arrow instead—" He pauses, helpless in searching for the right words, because she needs to understand. "—instead of you injuring yourself. Such a wound is nothing to me."
Even discounting his superior healing ability, he's suffered worse. Liyue’s foundations were built upon blood and death, and Xiao has done his part in making sure of it.
"It's nothing to me either," she says, as she raises an eyebrow. "So if this is just a scratch to both of us, why are you so worked up? Was my answer not adequate enough for the Guardian Yaksha? Is there something else you want?"
He almost staggers back from the blow of her words, because some of it may hold true. Why is he angry? What did he truly want?
Lumine stares at him, expectant. Lashes flutter in waiting, dusted in golden sunlight.
Silence.
She finishes cleaning away the blood. Stretches her arm, casting shadows that ripple with the flex of her muscles. "You should leave it alone then. Unless you want something more than the truth—"
With that, he hisses. Something boils over. Leaks out from him, and he moves without realizing, the dart of wind as he snatches her face by the jaw before slanting his lips over hers.
The briefest of skin-to-skin contact, lips caressing lips, as her eyes widen. As her gasp is caught in his mouth.
It is sweet. Not just the taste of her. The touch of her to him, close enough that warm breath sweeps over his cheek, makes his heart sigh.
But he does not dare for more.
Xiao breaks it off as fast as he came. Blinks and reels from Lumine as if he were the one startled. Did he do this? Muscles tense in ready for a flight away from her…
But she does not let him.
With a lightning-quick snap of her hand around his wrist, Lumine latches on and refuses to let go. Pulls him toward her, before he has a chance to flee.
"You can't just leave after that!" she breathes, sunset blush powdering her cheeks. "You're not even going to wait for my response?"
Why wait for rejection, is what he would say in his usual blunt awkward words... except he's trapped in the palm of her hand. The tips of his ears on fire. Heartbeat hummingbird fast. And then he can't even open his mouth to tell her he fears her rejection because—
Lumine pulls him close to kiss him again. Steals all thoughts from him.
Xiao closes his eyes. Dissolves into her breath, easy and gentle and sweet.
And surrenders.
(Because Lumine is not above taking advantage should the opportunity arise—especially if Xiao started it first.)
.
.
.
Bonus:
"So..." She glances at him, cheeks red. "Can I take this as what I think it means?"
"Hm." He clears his throat and looks away. "Don't do something so dangerous again."
"Will you kiss me again if I don't listen?"
"You—"
(In light of such a foolish question, he kisses her again now, instead.)