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Xiao had been avoiding Lumine for quite a while now. He wasn’t sure exactly why it wasn’t like she had done anything wrong, it was if something was mentally blocking him. He wanted to go over to her and talk to her, tell her why he had been avoiding her.
Yet something was stopping him, every time he got close to her he felt his face heating up and his heart starts going a million miles an hour. It was as if he starts getting ill every time he was around her, he doesn't usually gets sick since his fast healing combats that. So what was it about the traveller that made him feel so unwell…
Xiao being Xiao he decided to deal with it the best way he knew how. Ignore her completely unless she called his name which he would go do what she needed and leave as fast as the wind would let him. He knew the traveller had started to realize his skittish behaviour she had started giving him speculative looks when they spoke. He kept seeing the flashes of hurt cross her eyes every time he says goodbye.
Mortal emotions confused him quite often but Xiao knew Lumine wasn’t mortal, she wasn’t ruled by mortal desires the same way anyone else might be. She was different she didn’t just let anyone close as she did Xiao. In a weird about sort of way Xiao was aware of this, he knew he was probably hurting her quite deeply from the way he is acting. Still he found himself held back from changing.
He wasn’t sure what was holding him back from going up to her an apologising and trying to explain himself. Was it fear or was it pride, was he ashamed of the fact he was scared of the new feeling he was experiencing. It wasn’t as if he could just start spending time with her like nothing happened for one he knew the amount of awkwardness that would be between them. Lumine would also not let that slide after all she would want an explanation on why. And in a way he would not be able to answer the question fully…why did he wish to avoid her.
The question was constantly at the back of his head for the past couple of weeks. It was haunting him as a predator might its prey an unsolvable question, the worst kind. The answer would be solved though but not just by himself.
Xiao was sitting on top of cloud retainers mountain while sulking, he could no longer do it as Wangshu inn now that Verr Goldet was constantly on at him to go talk to the Traveller. While she may be a thorn in his side it did also make it clear he could not avoid Lumine forever.
“Fancy seeing you here, Alatus” A voice he knew all to well even if they sometimes didn’t speak for years at a time.
“Morax” Xiao greeted, “Or maybe I should call you Zhongli now” It felt weird calling him by that name but he didn’t fully care.
“Hmm, as pleasant as ever” Zhongli joked coming to sit next to him, uninvited. If it was any of the adepti he would have just disappeared as soon as they did it, grumbling about how they disrupted him. But he could tell Zhongli was here for a reason and considering who he is he couldn’t just leave as it would be considered disrespectful.
“You are here for a reason” Xiao prompted him, the man next to him sighed.
“I hear you are avoiding a good friend of ours” Ah of course, he should have known Zhongli of all people would come give him a lecture about it at some point. Lumine was rather close to the man they have frequent visits. Xiao sighed deeply resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
“Now don’t be like that” Zhongli was probably the only person on Teyvat who could get away with practically scolding him, “Is there a reason?”
Xiao didn’t say anything just choosing to look off into the distance the other way, wondering how quickly he could disappear without a trace. Zhongli took it as a sign to continue though deciding he was going to have to push the Yaksha more.
“She is thinking she did something” That made Xiao scoff while shaking her head, “Well based on that reaction its quite clear she did not then why are you avoiding her” Xiao realized there is no getting out of it now so he may as well come clean.
“She makes me ill” He states rather simply which Zhongli was not phased by. Instead just looking rather sceptically at him.
“She makes you ill” He repeated back at him as if he was suddenly a parrot, “Care to share the symptoms?”
Xiao sighed, “Every time I am around her my heart goes fast and I feel all hot and bothered” Zhongli laughed at him causing Xiao to frown, “You are not taking this seriously” He started to stand up but Zhongli caught his arm and pulled him back down.
“I apologise, although I do think I know what’s wrong” It was now Xiao’s turn to look at the man sceptically, “You Xiao are in love”
Xiao scoffed again, “I do not feel mortal attachments such as love” He rolled his eyes at the concept.
“Do you not feel love or have you just never experienced it before” Those were the last words of wisdom Zhongli told him before saying his goodbyes. Xiao stayed there though as if parallelized his mind was going at a million miles an hour. It was as if his world had been tipped of balance, did he love Lumine?
It wasn’t complete rocket science that he held her in high remark, he admired her sure but love. He wasn’t fully sure. But how does someone know they loved someone? It was as if Zhongli had opened up apart of Xiao that he had strictly kept under lock and key.
Xiao found himself wondering for the next few days as soon as he stopped fighting he found his mind wandering further and further down the rabbit hole of Lumine. First it was just having Lumine close by such as sitting together but then he found himself wishing for more…more than friendship could give him.
It was at that point he realized he needed to pull the stick out of his arse and tell her everything. It may scare him the fact of opening up but he had fought demons far worse than fear it was only his mind holding him back.
Lumine wasn’t exactly hard to find she was as bright as a ray of sunshine while also some how being a magnet for trouble. Xiao watched her from afar at first trying to get the courage to go over, she was currently fighting hilichurl’s so going to blurt out all of his bottled up feelings at the moment wouldn’t be in his or hers best interest.
After Lumine was finished though he decided it was now or never. Landing in front of her he saw her eyes widen before settle on anger it was at that point he realized this may not be as easy as he had hoped.
“If you are here to ask for help I think I might tell you to go shove it” She waved her sword dangerously close to his face but he wasn’t as taken a back as some might think.
“I came to apologise and explain myself” He brought his hand up to the swords tip pushing it down out of his face. Lumine waved it away before looking at him a bit softer than before, she nodded over to a large rock away from the on look of the path they were near.
“I thought you hated me” She told him as they both sat down, “I thought I had made some giant mistake and broken a boundary” It made Xiao’s heart sink at the practical confirmation that he had upset her.
“I let my own emotions cloud my judgment at that I apologise” Xiao was starting to think maybe he had messed up so badly there was no fixing it, “I would like to explain myself if you would let me”
Lumine gave him a small smile, “I’d like that” Holding out her hand asking if he would like to take it and he did this small gesture gave him hope.
“I got scared of my own feelings I started feeling new emotions and that made me fear being around you” He told her and she gave him a sympathetic smile, “I didn’t realize was that was until Zhongli came to talk to me and opened my eyes”
“Don’t you mean he just told you off in an old man type way” She corrected, Xiao realized she knew about Zhongli’s visit. He laughed lightly at her words.
“Yes but I realized what I was afraid of” Xiao took his hand back in preparation for rejection.
“And what might that be?” She tilted her head to the side.
“I love you Lumine” He whispered the words quietly but he knew she heard, her eyes widened before she closed the distance between them wrapping her arms around his neck pulling him into a hug.
“Archons and here I thought you hated me” She told him speaking into his shoulder, Xiao was stunned for a moment before wrapping her arms around her waist pulling her close.
“I could never hate you” He whispered, Lumine pulled back out the hug giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before looking deadly serious into his eyes.
“If you ever and I mean ever pull the stunt you just pulled for the past few weeks ever again I will hunt you down and kill you” She tried looking intimidating but Xiao just laughed slightly nodding in agreement.
“That’s fine” He couldn’t care less what she might do because for once he was actually happy which was also something he had barely experienced before.