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Tartaglia, codename Childe, 11th of the Fatui Harbingers, and the Tsaritsa's vanguard, was both feared and revered in the battlefield, yet all Alatus could see is a petulant mortal pouting for his attention.
" Come on great Yaksha! Fight me!" The ginger whined, the 47th time today, the abyssal-tainted beast had found him during one of his patrols along Jueyun Karst, and had been pestering him all throughout the day.
The smaller boy snarled, glaring fiercely at the Harbinger, " I have told you multiple times abyssal scum, I do not have any wish whatsoever to associate with your kind. Leave.", Said the Yaksha, before promptly disappearing with a burst of anemo.
-
This trend continued to happen daily, though most days the harbinger would stay only for a few hours before a fatui soldier would locate him and drag the ginger away. Not that Xiao cared.
They had even fleshed out a sort of dynamic, Xiao would focus on executing the monsters and Tartaglia, or Ajax as he insisted to be called, would use his bow to shoot down any stragglers.
Ofcourse, Xiao had been wary at first, yet after a month of this happening, he toned down the aggression, and if that decision was affected by how the Harbinger would bring him Almond Tofu every time they met, that was for him to know and no one else.
Today was another one of those days, as Xiao retrieved his Jade Spear from the dead body of a mitachurl, he turned and watched as the ginger put down his bow, having hit a hilichurl right in the eye, a big improvement to how his aim was when they first met, and stiffened as he saw a fatui soldier run in their direction.
Narrowing his eyes at the soldier, Xiao gave Ajax a nod, and the man gave a conflicted look, " Whatever it is you want to say, you should say it now instead of wasting my time, mortal." The man laughed, dead ocean blue eyes brightening up just a fraction.
He was broken, Xiao had deduced as soon as he deemed the man worthy of a glance. Yet, his broken eyes always drew his attention, perhaps it was the way it was so similar to his own, the eyes of a warrior who has seen and experienced too much.
The man then laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled sheepishly, " Right, haha, I just wanted to say that you probably won't see me for a while, so yeah." He finished awkwardly, and Xiao scoffed.
" Whatever it is you do does not concern me, the affairs of insignificant mortals like you do not concern the adepti, especially an adepti like myself. Go and leave now, Ajax. I have been tolerating your presence, but it does not mean I will tolerate the fatui as a whole."
The man let out an a small laugh before saluting, " Very well Adeptus. Take care now." And with a flourish the man walked away, which was weird, no matter how urgent the summon was the ginger always made sure to include a, " I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully then you'd have realized how amazing I really am and allow me a spar!"
-
He left. After the osial incident, the ginger left. Without a word, without a care. And Xiao, Xiao did not know what to feel.
The man had almost destroyed his precious nation, the nation he'd sworn to protect, yet he could not stop the painful thump in his heart when he heard from Rex Lapis what had truly transpired. How wrecked and subdued the ginger was. And how he had not even bothered to say goodbye.
But he shook himself out of it, ignoring his lack of appetite for Almond Tofu, he had thought that Smiley Yanxiao simply changed the recipe to get a better taste, yet after a inquiring why the dish tasted different, he found out the stupid human had been making the Tofu he gave him everyday.
-
Barbatos, a man he respects almost as much as Rex Lapis, one he might consider a " friend", had he not been a God. Yet, nevertheless he finds the time to visit the bard now known as Venti to hear his songs.
And as he lounges on the roof of dawn winery, hearing the bard's music through the windows, he spots a familiar head of ginger hair.
What was he doing here, and he could not begin to comprehend the tight and constricting feeling in his chest when he saw the ginger with a handsome blue haired man.
He found himself balling up his hands as the ginger drunkenly stumbled into the man's arms with a giggle.
With a pop he appeared before them, the slightly less-drunk blue haired man widened his eyes before moving into a defensive position, he could do nothing but roll his eyes, as if a simple mortal could do anything to him, an adepti.
Without a clue on why he was doing this, the small man demanded, " Hand over Ajax, you are in no state to bring him home."
And after a confused look from the other, he grabbed the man slung on his shoulder and disappeared.
-
" Pathetic mortal" he murmured as he deposited the ginger in his hotel room, the fatui soldiers had seemingly recognizing him and showed him the way to the Harbinger's quarters.
The man looked so tranquil, so relaxed in his sleep, and Xiao could not help but sit on the windowsill and watch him.
He could afford to leave Liyue, after all Rex Lapis had advised him to leave some of the less dangerous monsters to the Millelith, and he begrudgingly obliged, having been the reason he was even in Mondstandt, having nothing else to do.
A small moan woke him from his thoughts, and he looked towards the man lying in bed, eyebrows scrunched up and breathing heavily. Xiao could taste the nightmare coming from the ginger, so dark and so horrifying.
He could not control himself as he stood in front of the ginger, eyebrows furrowed as he did something he had not done in centuries.
He ate the disgusting nightmare the other was having, the foul taste on his tongue nothing compared to the small smile gracing the other's face after.
-
A hydro arrow shot through the air, hitting the hilichurl about to hit him right in the eye, and he turned, meeting the dead blue eyes of the 11th Harbinger.
He could not control the way his heart beat erratically and could not help but remember his conversation with Rex Lapis.
The now consultant tilted his head to the side, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips, " So you are telling me, that you experience all this whenever you are with Ajax, correct?" And the yaksha nodded, looking solemn.
The small smile then turned into a full blown grin,
" I'm afraid there is no cure for the illness that ails you, my Friend. For it isn't an illness."
The yaksha furrowed his eyebrows, a frown appearing on his pretty face, " Then what is it"
" Why my friend, it seems as though you have finally fallen in love."
If anyone else had said anything as ridiculous to him, they would've been met with the tip of his spear, but as it was Rex Lapis' words, he could not find it in him to question it. Especially as he found himself focused on the blinding smile that was sent his way.
He didn't notice of course, the small smile gracing his own lips in return, nor the stunned awe of the harbinger in front of him as he gathered his courage and spoke,
" Ajax, let us spar."
The smile turned even bigger, and the Yaksha was concerned that the harbinger's mouth would hurt with how wide it was, yet he couldn't help but feel the thumping in his chest grow louder and quicker.
Maybe Rex Lapis was right, indulging this mortal wouldn't be so bad.