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“Adeptus Xiao.”
The funeral parlor consultant said as he was pouring the Yaksha some herbal tea, Xiao didn’t want to ask for help especially from someone like Zhongli, it was embarrassing to admit needing help at something so personal in his mind.
”What is this help you ask me for the director?”
The green haired boy fumbled silently with his fingers, he hasn’t told him about Zhongli relationship with his employer yet. Sipping on his share of tea, Xiao recalled the memories of Hu Tao, memories he couldn’t understand.
^*^
It all started with spicy stew.
Xiao strolled through the lit up streets of Liyue, the smell of spice went through his nostrils. Spice, a familiar taste in which he was neutral with, it wasn’t his favorite but he knew who’s favorite it was.
Whenever the rare occasion the Yaksha is in the harbor he often visits the funeral parlors director with gifts of plenty, varying from silk flowers, steamed fish and dumplings and when he was feeling generous some tofu.
He doesn’t recall when this tradition began but something about Hu Tao’s mortal smile made him feel something, a feeling he won’t admit he enjoys, just something about her cheeky happy smile when she sees the new present he gave her fills his insides with butterflies, at first he thought it was another one of her tricks but later in he realized it was own personal feelings.
As much as Xiao wanted to deny this feeling, he got attached to the director in no time because of it. Driven to spend Mora for her, he approached the local hotspot for food, this visit he’ll give her something to appreciate greatly, who knows what could happen when he leaves the harbor again, if the time ever comes where he has to buy his final gift for her then he’ll make it one she’ll adore.
He wouldn’t normally chat with the locals but this day he’ll make an exception, just for Hu Tao.
”Wanmin restaurant! What would you like to eat?”
God, maybe he should’ve just cooked Spicy stew on his own. Xiangling Mao, an incredible chef with many cooking talents but also a girl with a weird mouth and mind, Xiao isn’t really into the whole ‘try new things’ preferring things to be simple and repetitive like how it has always been but for Hu Tao he’ll give it a chance.
”Make a custom dish, Spicy stew and make it really spicy.” He spat back with a cold tone, throwing mora on the windows ledge. The adeptus wasn’t here to be friendly, he was here to get one thing and leave so why bother making a good impression.
”Oh—Hey! You can’t just—!”
Xiao turned his back on the disoriented girl not even turning back to reply to her many yelps and screams for him to come back, entering a small gap between stores he leaned against the stone wall. Mortals, even the littlest of requests they ask you to elaborate on, 2,000 years of protecting Liyue and yet there’s only one mortal he found interest in, well counting two if the traveler is included as well.
Hu Tao wasn’t what he expected to be, Xiao is not fond of loud and trickster types but yet he was so fond of her. Maybe it was her sly smile, perception of the dead or maybe it was just Hu Tao herself.
She was perfect in his eyes, a balance between the dark and gruesome owner of the funeral parlor where they almost want you to die for sales but also a clever extroverted joker, out of all people, you wouldn’t expect a funeral parlor director to be so cheerful, maybe that’s why, Hu Tao was so unpredictable and rare it was beautiful. Xiao’s never felt such attraction to a mortal in his entire lifetime, it was refreshing, Hu Tao may as well be one of the only few people or maybe the only person Xiao showed attraction to but yet at what cost? She was mortal, the director would soon be the one being buried once her time ends, that was the sad thing about mortals.
They only have so little time left, why bother even befriending or loving them, they are as replaceable as a broken weapon, you get stricken with grief because of your attachment to it but eventually you overcome the sadness eventually but in your heart, you will never forget the time it broke, it shattered, it died.
”Hey hey hey!! Spicy stew guy! Your food is ready!”
The voice of the head chef of wanmin restraint could be heard around the corner, food’s finally done. Approaching the dish, Xiao’s nose was soon filled with a variety scents, a little too many. There was the dish, red in color and spicy in smell, there were many things added to it, herbs, fish, and… is that slime secretions?
“Because you didn’t say what you wanted in your stew almost everything is improvised so don’t come crying to me if it’s bad!”
Crying over bad food? How pathetic. Xiao wasn’t going to cry over such puny matters.
”I’m not going to eat it anyway, put it somewhere it won’t spill I need it to give it to someone I actually like.”
“Take-away? It’s going to cost you mora bud—“
The chef was interrupted as more mora was thrown at her, Xiao unbothered as he stood with his arms crossed.
”Guess your girlfriend doesn’t prioritize people with politeness..” She muttered thinking the adeptus wouldn’t hear, girlfriend? No Hu Tao wasn’t with him like that, well.. was she? Their relationship wouldn’t be considered as simple as friends but girlfriend and boyfriend seemed like an exaggeration.
“The Director isn’t my girlfriend, she’s just.. a friend..” He said that with doubt in the end, the chef picked up on his tone.
”Direc—? ohhhhhhhh.”
Placing the dish carefully in an orange gift box covered in yellow bows she stared at the short male with a mischievous grin, what was she doing now?
”You have feelings for Hu Tao! Just so you know spicy stew is something she orders regularly!”
…..
Xiao didn’t know if he was weirded out because she was assuming such things or that because she was actually correct. He and Hu Tao both showed affection to each other like partners would but they never made it official. Their relationship was more of a secret one, on the outside they seemed like only mere acquaintances but between them they were much more, more then friends but lesser then lovers. It was confusing, never in his 2,000 years has he ever faced such a dilemma like this. Foolish mortal feelings.
Xiao snatched the gift box from Xiangling, turning away embarrassed from her comment. Hearing her laugh behind his back just made him want to hide in Hu Tao’s parlor sooner maybe then he’ll resolve this whole ‘not friends but not lovers’ problem quicker.
^*^
“Sorry but the director is not feeling well today, she is currently at her home at the moment, if you want then we can take your gift in to deliver to her tomorrow.”
Hu Tao? Sick? Xiao wanted to see that sight for his own eyes, he can’t recall a time when the director ever missed a day of work, perhaps history was being made in front of his very eyes today.
”No, I would like to deliver this to her myself.”
And he will, Xiangling’s dish would expire most likely before Hu Tao would recover from illness, he wouldn’t let such great food go to waste. Xiao was familiar with Hu Tao’s home, often looking on from above watching the director arrive home safely at night, in fact Hu Tao has invited him inside her home, it was a pretty comfortable place to rest in.
Shutting his eyes, he felt waves of energy in his body, the ferrylady letting out a small gasp in shock. In an instant he was already there, Hu Tao. He didn’t want to teleport so suddenly in public when it was bright as day but sick Hu Tao was worth teleporting for.
Hu Tao lied there, surrounded with knitted dolls on a soft comfortable bed in the corner of her room. A divider covered Xiao’s sight but the shadow was telling him everything, Hu Tao’s hat was on a nearby wooden chair, when has she ever taken her hat off? Why was she leaving such a precious belonging in the open for someone to steal? Wasn’t it from her late grandfather? Walking on the creaky dark oak floor, he moved pass the divider to take a closer look at Hu Tao.
A blanket covered her body, hair undone with messy tangles and something else was that she was facing the wall. The short male approached the director gift in hand, looking down at her, he couldn’t see her face but the way she was breathing indicates she was awake but yet not aware that another person was in the room with her.
”Hu Tao.”
Xiao gently placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder, a shriek came out of her flinching immediately. Hu Tao sat up hastily to see who was with her, now sitting up Xiao could see her face clearly.
She had big red eyebags and her eyes were teary, Hu Tao was…
Crying?
Concern immediately spread throughout all of Xiao’s mind, what the archons could make Hu Tao cry? Hu Tao crying seemed more like a joke then her actual jokes, the girl was quite apathetic when it came to feelings so it would be hard to imagine a person like her crying.
”X-Xiao..?”
Her voice cracked while saying the Yaksha’s name, instead of feeling the occasional butterflies he normally would, Xiao felt a pool of hot liquid streaming in his insides. Hu Tao’s voice sounded so pitiful it was just horrible, it was painful to listen to.
”What are you doing? Are you sick?”
Now placing the gift box beside the directors hat atop the chair Xiao crossed his arms again just like he did with the directors chef friend.
”Wow…— W-Why are yo-“ A suddenly cough erupted from the sick director, “Eugh…Why are you here-?”
“For my traditional gift giving.”
Xiao said with no emotion in his voice, although he was technically stating the truth he was also there to find out what their relationship truly was. Xiangling from earlier had made him question if this ongoing routine of giving gifts for the director really was something more.
”Oh—..”
The sickly woman blurted out weakly, her voice sounded so defeated, so tired. Maybe buying her spicy stew was a bad idea, she couldn’t even eat it now.
“Foolish Humans, always attracting disea—“
”Leave.”
What. Did Hu Tao just say ‘Leave’?
”What.”
”J-Just—.. Get out of my room Xiao!”
The hot liquid started pouring faster, pools of it entering his insides, what is this new feeling..? Is it guilt? Grief? What is there to feel guilt over, it’s a mortal, it isn’t his fault that she was sick.
”Mortals can’t just boss an ad—“
”I SAID LEAVE!!”
A soft surface hit his face covering his sight, he was hit, by a pillow. Grabbing the cushy object he looked at the tears running further down his beloveds cheeks, those cheeks he once squished were now drowning in water because of him. Hu Tao’s sobs and sniffs made its way into the ears of the now shocked Yaksha, was it him that did this? Was coming here a bad mistake?
Walking backwards slowly, the male went behind the divider and silently exited the same way he came. His new location was the only home Xiao had, the Wangshu Inn. He pondered at what the hell just happened, Hu Tao was ill and mad at him, but why? He neither said anything to anger her nor caused her sickness so why? Why was she so mad?
Human feelings are something he will never be able to decipher, they are a far too complicated species to understand completely and yet for this one human, this one girl, Xiao wanted to understand.
^*^
”I see.”
The Geo Archon said as he sipped quietly on his Tea, Xiao had just ranted to his superior, a God. He was talking to a God about his relationship problems.
“Well, the case may be the Director is truly mad at you.”
The green haired males head perked up showing confusion, so this was his doing? The pools of hot liquid arrived again, boiling this time.
”The director is not one to break down easily, she has informed me that she would only ever break down for something she truly ever cared about.” What was Zhongli implying? Morax was intelligent in many things but this was the only time the Yaksha ever dated to doubt his God. “Hu Tao must love you a lot to break down right in front you.”
”She— what.”
Love? Hu Tao loves him? It suddenly hit him like a brick, oh archons.
”The reason she yelled at you must of been because of her own feelings, you told her that you’re only there to give her a gift because it was a habit meaning Hu Tao must have thought you don’t feel the same about her as she does for you.”
Xiao’s body was now full of this boiling hot liquid feeing, how could he be as foolish as he is now? If Xiao actually told the truth to her then maybe she wouldn’t have shut him out so harshly like she did yesterday. All of this was caused because Xiao couldn’t tell her he loved her back.
These feelings were love, Hu Tao and him were people that loved each other. The hot pools in his stomach was regret, how could he hurt her like that? What was wrong with him? He had to fix this, it was all a misunderstanding, because of him.
“Do you understand now, Xiao?”
Indeed yes, he understood now. He nodded at the God’s question now dead silent at the realization of his foolery.
”Well what are you doing here still, confess to her.” But how? It was already moon rise and without a doubt if he teleported in Hu Tao’s house again then she’ll hate him even more.
”Back in my day, when Guizhong was sorrowful, I would gently converse with her while smoothly inserting compliments to help her self-esteem to recover, perhaps this could work with the director if you tried hard enough.”
Didn’t ask but Xiao wasn’t complaining for the advice, he had to think of a strategy to get into Hu Tao’s house but also a strategy to not indirectly make her despise him more. Brainstorming for ideas, Xiao’s mind wandered everywhere from the Liyue harbor ocean to the mountainous terrain in Jueyun Karst.
Finally after minutes of thinking, Xiao found the perfect strategy to get his not so lover girl back.
^*^
Knocking on the lightly decorated doors of Hu Tao’s manor, Xiao held three self picked silk flowers found near his homely inn, this strategy must work or else he risks the factor that if it fails then Hu Tao might completely shut him out permanently, he couldn’t just let his bad understanding of humans get in the way of their relationship.
Footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door, clutching the bouquet of silk tighter he prepared for the directors initial reaction to the Yaksha’s appearance.
”Sorry but no visitors toda—“
She cut herself off looking at the male now handing her flowers, what is happening now? Why was the so stoic and cold Xiao now handing her a bouquet?
”Xiao?” A raspy voice called out to him.
The Yaksha felt relief when learning his beloved wasn’t mad at him anymore, now the only problems was to find a non-awkward way to confess without causing more unwanted problems. Xiao was still on outer side of Hu Tao’s door and confessing outdoors was one of Xiao’s major pet peeves, I mean just why? I thought feelings were supposed to be passionate so why are you confessing in public? Passionate feelings are supposed to be shared privately to avoid any disruption.
”Hu Tao, I apologize for yesterday and I bring these flowers for compensation.”
What the hell was Xiao doing?! Follow the plan god dammit! He sounded more emotionless then he did last night, not at all loving as he wanted it to be!
“Oh-! Wow, didn’t really think you’d be the type of guy to do that. Haha..”
Stop it, just stop. Xiao couldn’t handle this feeling that Hu Tao was suffering because of him, ‘For my traditional gift giving’ what the fuck was that?! He wasn’t there because of the gift giving habit, he was there for her.
”Stop it.”
”Hu—“
The director couldn’t even react to his words before getting pushed more into her own house, doors shutting behind the now approaching Yaksha. Hu Tao was shoved so hard as soon she was shoved she lost her balance immediately, toppling over her own floors she was falling back quickly, what was Xiao doing?
Before her back could make contact with the floor a pair of gloves hands caught her first. Xiao couldn’t wait anymore, he was building up so much mental strength to avoid a situation like this but seeing Hu Tao’s smile plastered face accompanied with a drained voice made him snap, he couldn’t wait any longer to tell her it was all just a misunderstanding.
”Xiao what are you— huh?”
Getting interrupted yet again the director could only be held still as her head rest on the Adeptus’ shoulder while his arms wrapped around her like the ribbons of the gift box he gifted to her last night. Hu Tao was warm, most likely because she was ill but Xiao didn’t mind, all he wanted was her, he wanted her to realize that he returned the same feelings.
”I love you.”
So abrupt but with so much meaning.
Silence was clear in the air, Hu Tao stood there in Xiao’s arms frozen at the statement just said. Love was a funny feeling, makes you feel amazing but yet so bad at the same time, only the strongest of warriors could deny love.
A sudden noise was heard, a sound sourcing from the girl he was holding so dearly, it was crying. She was crying. Two hands clutched at the boys back, the crying soon shifted into bawling, intense bawling. Xiao’s face remained monotonous hearing the girl sobs, he was alright with this, those were sounds of happy cries not ones of despair he was familiar with.
The male gripped onto the sobbing directors fluffy hair, perhaps with Hu Tao actions speak more then words. Rubbing the director’s soft locks in an up and down motion the girl left out an identical confession to the Yaksha.
‘I love you too Xiao.’
Those words were honest, from the heart.
”I’m sorry Hu Tao, I wasn’t there because of the gift giving visit tradition, I was there for you.”
And with that sentence the girl cried even harder scratching the male’s back deep enough to draw scars on him. The two lovers were so happy but the both of them showed them in different ways, one presenting it vocally while the other silently, what a beautiful sight.
”I’m sorry for making you cry yesterday.”
The butterfly girl retreated from the comfort of the Yaksha’s shoulder and scooped his blank face in her smooth hands. Xiao’s arched gold eyes, red eyeliner, cute little purple diamond in the middle of his forehead and his cold but calming face is all Hu Tao could ask for, how lucky she had been being able to make a man like this love such a mere human like her.
”I wasn’t crying because of you in the beginning Xiao, I was crying because I got sick and couldn’t look after the parlor,” she let out a chuckle, “Although you did make me cry harder when you did say that you were there for the gifts but it’s okay now, you can’t help it!” She snorted, God how Xiao missed this.
He leaned in closer towards her, lips touching hers, it was a passionate kiss one filled with love and joy. The butterfly lovers now could only be satisfied with this new relationship established. Sharing the kiss, the both of them could faintly remember the night later, all they could care about was each other.
^*^
”So you guys are dating now?” The head chef asked the pair.
“Yep!”
The Yaksha could only hide his head down in shame, the two were holding hands, now that they were lovers everyone would eventually find out and he wasn’t looking forward to it. He could just imagine the disappointed groans of all the other adepti seeing Hu Tao with him as a partner.
”This is my lovey dovey boyfriend Xiao and he made me cry yesterday!”
”Don’t say that.”