The traveler and the yaksha | Xiao x Aether

Chapter 3 Night of Wishes

Aether opened his eyes to the sun shining into the room. He slowly sat up from the bed, he had a slight headache and he felt like he was in a fog.

'Where am I? What happened?' He thought, then he looked down at his chest and noticed he was shirtless and bandages were wrapped all around his chest. Then he remembered everything that happened.'Oh.. Right now I remember I was attacked and Xiao rescued me. I remember him patching me up.'

Aether then looked around the room, he noticed right away that he wasn't in his hotel room. The layout was different and it seemed to have more furniture than the other rooms. He definitely wasn't in Mondstadt either.

'Who's room is this anyways?' He was thinking to himself, then suddenly it hit him when he saw the black demon mask sitting on top of the dresser. 'Wait... Is this Xiao's room!?' Aether's face turned a little red at the thought.

Aether heard what sounded like running water was being shut off from somewhere, it was coming from the bathroom. Few moments later the door opened and Xiao walked out of the bathroom. He had nothing on except for some dark colored shorts, he was shirtless with water dripping down from his hair. He had a towel draped on his head, he was using the towel to dry his wet hair. Aether's face went red hot at the scene in front of him.

"About time you woke up." Xiao said as he turned his head towards Aether who was staring at him from the bed. "And why are you staring at me like that? Not like I walked out stark naked."

Aether was staring at Xiao with his mouth open, he didn't even realize what he was doing, the sight of Xiao coming out of the bathroom like that caught him off guard. He shook his head to snap himself out of the gaze he was in.

"What? How long have I been out?" Aether asked with a nervous voice.

"You've been asleep for about two days." Xiao answered as he continued drying his hair.

"Two days!? The guild is going to kill me." Aether jumped out of the bed and started to run to the door, but he was stopped by Xiao, he had grabbed Aether's hand stopping him in his tracks.

"Hold on a minute. I need to check your injuries before you head out." Xiao said as he pulled Aether behind him back to the bed.

Aether obeyed and let the adeptus pull him along. He sat back down on the edge of the bed. Xiao turned around and started walking back to the bathroom.

"Let me get dressed. Don't move, I'll be right back." Xiao said as he closed the door to the bathroom behind him.

'Geez...His skin is flawless...and he has such a toned body. Wait..Why am I thinking these things!?' Aether thought nervously as he watched Xiao enter the bathroom and the door shut behind him.

Few minutes passed and the bathroom door opened once again and Xiao emerged from it fully clothed this time. He didn't have the towel on his head anymore either. He walked over to the dresser and grabbed something off it, then walked over to Aether.

"Here, I had Verr Goldet wash these for you." Xiao said and handed the garments to Aether as he sat down next to him on the edge of the bed.

"Oh...Thank you." Aether took the clothes from Xiao. Xiao started to remove the bandages from Aether's body and inspect the wounds.

Aether was lost in thought as Xiao was taking the bandages off his chest. ''So he took care of me the whole time I was out?'

"Seems all your wounds are healed up." Xiao calmly said as he finished removing all the bandages from Aether's body and face. He tossed the bandages in the trash. "Next time if you need help don't hesitate to call out my name." He continued to say as Aether was putting on his crop top and cape, now that he was free of the bandages. Seems the supposed cracked rib healed up quickly too. The medicine he took worked great.