Midnight Park | Xiao x fem reader

Beyond the Unknown

A/N: yup. it totally isn't a pun because I got reminded of frozen 2

for some reason, your heart started beating faster. your feet unconsciously took you to the center of the park while your eyes kept on looking everywhere for Xiao.

your breathing slowed thinking of all the possibilities of what happened to Xiao. your mind raced as you wasted no time pulling out your phone from your tote bag.

turning on the flashlight, you couldn't help but panic as you called out his name over and over. what if he went missing? what if something terrible happened?

...maybe meeting him was just a dream?

as if answering your worries, your flashlight highlighted a teal-haired figure walking towards you from the far east side of the park.

you shouted his name again before going to him, your feet trying their best not to run to him so that he wouldn't get weirded out.

as soon as you were no farther than 6 feet apart from him, you asked him, "where did you go?" with your breaths still uneven.

"I checked out the lantern rite location. were you looking for me?"

going right past the most important detail, you burst into a fit of laughter. as surprised as Xiao was, he let you put your hand on his arm to support yourself.

you could feel your stomach hurt and you couldn't even figure out why you laughed this much. maybe it was because you got worried over nothing,

or maybe because the place he checked was in the wrong direction AND he didn't hear you looking for him like crazy.

calming down from your fit, you wiped the tear on the side of your eye from laughing too much.

"first of all, yes. and second of all, you checked the wrong place. you're supposed to go there" you pointed at a certain dark edge of the park.

Xiao stared at the spot before looking straight into your eyes. that was understandable as the place was surrounded by trees and there was no source of light that way.

"come on. I'll lead the way," you wasted no time removing your hand from his arm and stroll your way without waiting for him.

feeling the cold air on his arm that you were holding, Xiao hesitantly followed your steps before you could leave him too far behind.

realizing that his footsteps stopped right before you entered the dark track, you turned your head to check on him.

"Xiao, is anything wrong?"

"you're sure this is the way?" he asked you warily.

thinking for a moment, you asked him a random question that popped into your mind. "are you scared of the dark?"

"of course not. why would I be scared of such a thing?" without waiting for your answer, Xiao walked right past you.

from the corner of your eyes, you could see how his hands were trembling. without thinking twice you grabbed his hand and walked alongside him.

his pace slowed down and you were right. he was scared as hell. even with you holding his hand, it was still impossible for him to relax.

just what could make him so scared?

watching Xiao's facial expression turn sour, you couldn't be more sure you were already at your destination. you couldn't help but watch him all the time as you were concerned about him.

"Are you saying THIS is the heart of the city?" Xiao deadpanned at you.

"yeah so maybe this is practically empty right now and this isn't the center of the city where the buildings are like the one you saw earlier BUT most of the people are usually here so technically it is"

completely ignoring your explanation, Xiao observed the dark place and the view below him. he scrunched his nose as his fingers touched the dusty bench on his right side.

the gloomy cliff without any lamp nor railing contrasted greatly with the sight of the almost empty Liyue Harbor. with only a few lights and people, it looked as peaceful as ever.

"shall we go back?" you offered, seeing him getting uninterested.

he let out a hum as he turned around and stared at the track and braced himself before walking straight into it with you trailing behind him.