The Spark [Xiao x Aether]

Comforting the Adeptus

When they got there Aether laid Xiao on his bed and gave him some water to calm down the stress he had. The Yaksha quickly drank it and sat up while holding onto his wound.

They both sat on the bed until The Adeptus spoke suddenly.

"I'm curious about something. What's this thing you mortals call ..love..?" spoke the yaksha hoping to learn more about mortals and their feelings to pass time.

Aether sat on the bed next to him and started talking "Well...Love is when a person makes you feel accepted into this world. It's somebody that can trigger emotions you didn't know you had. Somebody that you're always comfortable around and someone that makes you smile and feel happy. A person that makes your heart skip a couple of beats when seeing them yet again as strange as it sounds, it feels nice. That certain person can change the way you see the world a lot." He explained.

"Huh..that sounds like something out of an old kid's book."

"..Are you in love perhaps?" Asked the blonde boy curiously wondering why he asked that question in the first place. It wasn't like him to ask such questions.

"Hmph. I cannot have such feelings you're mistaken, I was made to protect people not have any kind of romantic attraction to them." Said Xiao turning away from Aether's sparkling yellow eyes. He just can't bring himself to look at them for too long. It gets distracting and makes his mind mess with him.

"I'm in love with somebody right now," said Aether as a joke trying to make Xiao less embarrassed. "But I don't think they love me as well. Love is quite confusing when you think about it." He smiled.

"...I see.." said the yaksha while dozing off slowly. He was pretty tired after all that has happened today. 

"ah, it's getting late. I think you should sleep."

"I don't sleep. You're the one that should go sleep. Sleeping isn't required for immortals to get energy. I told you this before."

Aether sighed, he pinned Xiao down against the bed holding his hands above his head. Meanwhile, he gently got on top of him trying not to hurt him. He couldn't think of a different way to not make him simply teleport away. The blonde boy knew if the Adeptus was uncomfortable he would immediately leave. But he didn't. He stayed.

"I'm not gonna get off you until you decide to go to sleep."

"Hm..." xiao was feeling mad but at the same time, it felt weird. Either way, he was too tired to think. Aether watched as the Adeptus finally closed his eyes and went to sleep. He got off him and rolled to the other side of the bed. The traveler's bed was quite big for one short person. Even if he always slept alone with his floating companion. Except for tonight of course.

    ________________________________

In the middle of the night, xiao woke up feeling really energetic and relaxed. Adepti don't require much sleep so this felt like he had been sleeping for weeks. But soon he heard whimpering. Aether was shaking from how cold it was. The teapot normally didn't have any temperature so this was indeed very strange. Xiao looked around for some blanket to cover him up from the cold but there was none. 'Does he actually sleep like this every night without a blanket or something?' Thought the boy to himself. 'Mortals sure are weird...'

After a few minutes of thinking and hearing Aether shiver and whimper he got close to him. Xiao hugged Aether trying to keep him warm. He pressed his body against him. The traveler's head was pressing against the adepti's chest. With every breath Aether took xiao could feel it. Now he was the one shivering but not from the cold. It was that strange feeling. He felt as if he was doing something wrong. Hugging some stupid mortal like that. Xiao soon brushed off that thought as something 'friends' did for each other. He heard Aether stop shivering in his sleep after some time.

   _______________________________

Soon it was a new day. Aether woke up feeling warmer than usual. "Huh strange..." he thought. He noticed that Xiao was gone. He most likely went back to Liyue to continue his duty.

But seems like that wasn't the case. After the traveler rubbed his eyes and looked around the room a bit, he caught the Adeptus staring out the window. It seemed like he just wanted to get some fresh air. Aether sighed in relief, making Xiao turn back to look at him.

"Oh, you're awake." Xiao managed to say. "How come you mortals sleep so much."

"Hey...What if I am not a mortal?" Aether got tired of always being called a mortal by Xiao every time they met. He knew he wasn't a mortal. He was far away from even being one.

"Huh Is that so...either way. I want to thank you for Taking care of me, though I didn't need it. I'll be going now. I appreciate your helo." Xiao tried to jump out the window but before he could, Aether spoke. "You aren't going." The Adeptus ignored it and jumped out the window.

Only to be stopped by The traveler a second later. He dragged him back into the room while slightly grabbing his waist. It was weird seeing how fast he caught him.

"I'm sorry but you aren't going, xiao. You're still injured."

Xiao sighed in annoyance and crossed his arms staring into Aether's eyes. A slight blush appeared on his face. The traveler's hair was untied and he looked really different with his hair down like that.

The two guys stared at each other for a couple of minutes not saying a single thing, neither of them had anything to say both of them were speechless for some odd reason. Normally every time they met up it would be like this. The traveler did not mind though, he enjoyed looking at Xiao's eyes. Usually, eyes tell a lot about a person. Whenever the blonde boy looked into The Yaksha's eyes he can feel there's something more to him than he shows. As if he was hiding something.

"Fine, I'll stay." He finally accepted the fact that the traveler isn't gonna let him go anytime soon. He also wished to spend a little more time with him before returning.

Aether smiled. And sat the Adeptus down at a small table that was in the room, he looked him in the eyes and spoke "So, are you gonna tell me what's wrong?" Aether was still very curious about why Xiao was in the state he was in when the blonde-haired boy found him. He never saw the yaksha in such a state before.

"I shouldn't be sharing my problems with you. And either way, you wouldn't understand the way people like me think." Xiao looked away and crossed his arms, stubborn as ever.