It's never too late to love, isn't it? °Xiao x Aether°

Chapter 3: Triviality

It was a sultry late summer morning. The birds were just up and the first humans were on their way wherever it took them. Aether blinked into the rising sun and stretched his arms extensively while yawning loudly and heartily.
The first rays of sun bathed the entire sky in a beautiful orange and the cobwebs on the side of the road glittered from the rain of the evening before.

"You're so tired again! Are you going to go like that?" Paimon scolded.
"Don't worry Paimon. I don't think Xiao wants to go to the Chasm just yet, so I'll have plenty of time to wake up properly."
"Hmph" Paimon crossed her arms over her chest and looked indignant.
But the traveler's thoughts were already somewhere else, which Paimon didn't go unnoticed, but she said nothing.

In order not to stand aimlessly in front of the inn all the time, they both gigged along the path that would lead to Liyue after a walk. In fact, they walked quite a bit, passing different people.
Although they both greeted them, only Paimon remembered all their names, for which he was very grateful to Paimon. He could never remember all the names he had already helped on his journey.

Without noticing that they had left the path, they walked toward abandoned ruins. The weather had already changed.
It was beginning to rain and a few light drops landed on the traveler's nose as he looked up at the grey, overcast sky.
Was it autumn already?
Or had he already completely forgotten that time was passing due to all the orders? Wearily he looked down into the small ravine.
When had he forgotten that there was no further way since the path had been destroyed a long time ago?
He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

As...

"Aether! Watch out!!!"
Startled, he backed away at the last second before a powerful mechanical metal hand could have caught him. At the same moment he had to dodge again, because the huge mechanism was already swinging for the next attack and almost got him.
Air rushed into his lungs, already reaching for his sword, he got into his usual fighting stance, ready to direct an elemental force at the robot, when suddenly....

The monster before him stopped before kneeling and collapsing; There were a few final crunching noises and the light in its case went out.

He wanted to open his mouth in confusion but closed it again when he saw a jade spear flash behind the robot and as the robot began to disintegrate,
Xiao stood in front of him and looked straight into his eyes.

"thanks."
Xiao closed his eyes in disbelief and imperceptibly shook his head, but not angry.
"I came here because that thing called me." He aimed his spear at paimon before making it disappear.

"Thing?" Paimon squeaked and got a questioning look from the Traveler, causing her to fall into his arms, half sobbing. "Paimon was so scared. There was this big robot but Aether didn't move. Otherwise Aether is never so inattentive. What should Paimon have done?"
"It's ok, thanks Paimon.."; the traveler murmured, slightly embarrassed, and patted his companion's shoulder while slowly turning to Xiao, who had just watched silently but now raised his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you about something like that."
But his opposite only shook his head and relaxed his posture.
"I was around. But now I'm here anyway. So...didn't you want to go to the Chasm with me? So let's go and not waste any more time."
Without giving them another glance, he turned and walked ahead towards their destination, leaving the traveler with little choice but to run after him with a still sulking Paimon.

---

It had been a while now and the massive sharp rocks at the edge of the chasm could already be seen from afar. On their way here, Aether quickly noticed that Xiao was leading them onto a different path to avoid the city, which he didn't mind, however they had to cross a mountain and avoid several Fatui. So it happened that Paimon got tired after a short time and leaned on his shoulder.

Aether looked up at the sky in front of her, it would take them half an hour to climb the steep cliffs. He sighed and looked around for a good spot to climb up from and looked hesitantly at Xiao.

He felt his eyes on him and looked at him, looking like he had something on his mind.

A little hesitantly, he put his hand on his neck and looked away from the traveler.
"If we want to make this short and not waste the whole day, I could teleport you guys to the middle of the rift with me.."

Paimon woke up at that moment.

"..like we've done before. You know.."

For a split second, Aether thought she saw a blush on the Adeptus' cheeks.
Does that mean that this evening was something special for Xiao?
Maybe he can talk to him about it now...

Exactly at that moment he heard Paimon squeak next to him and how she looked at him overwhelmed.
"You never told me that you and Xiao met again after our trip to the Chasm; all alone. What did you have to talk about without Paimon?"

The traveler's cheeks flushed with blood and he blushed. Xiao, who was beginning to concentrate, didn't hear her.

Or at least he pretended.

While Aether raised his hands soothingly and squirmed in front of his companions to explain what Xiao meant by that, said Adeptis came up to him and gently wrapped his arm around the traveler's waist and looked into his eyes.

His heart felt like it would stop as he felt the warmth of Xiao's body and his opponent's face suddenly came so close that he could feel his breath lightly. He could feel his face getting hot.

But Xiao didn't seem to notice,
as he cleared his throat.

"Hold you and your flying companion close to me and close your eyes, I'll lead us straight into the cave."