Is this love..? [Xiaother]

3

"Ugh..." the blonde groans softly as he starts to wake up from his slumber.
Today, he didn't really need to do anything, other than his commissions.
Aether sits up on his bed and sighs to himself, after that strange occurrence with Ganyu, and the supposedly invitation from Lady Ningguang, Aether couldn't rest well that night.
Since the presence of another in his room still didn't go away.

It could have been his sadness and thinking that Lumine was here, but she wasn't.
Or, it could have been Alatus himself.
Aether was unfamilliar with the name of 'Alatus', Aether knew no one with that name.
It could have been written down in a book, it could have been engraved in stone.

However, Aether didn't want to busy himself with finding out who this 'Alatus' person is.
He already has enough on his mind, his sister, trying to get Xiao to speak to him, the death of Rex Lapis, so on.
Aether pushes himself off his bed, gets changed, and exits his room, only to be greeted with an angry Paimon.

"IF YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE OUT WITH SOMEONE ATLEAST DON'T HIT THE WALLS!" Paimon exclaims, alerting Verr from the reception.
"What-? I wasn't making out with anyone," Aether responds, shrugging.
"Well it sure sounded like you were!"
"Trust me, I wasn't, even if I was, who would I make out with anyway?" Aether sighs, going down the stairs with Paimon following close behind.
"Uhh... Xiao?"
"He's most likely not gay, and plus, he's an adepti, I'm just an immortal human."
"You do have a point..." Paimon sighs, defeated, but then she asks," Well if you weren't having fun then what were you doing?"
"Some lady called Ganyu came into my room to watch over me, she was ordered by some person named 'Alatus'," Aether whispers, as he sat down at a table near Wangshu's kitchen.
"Hmm... Alatus is the name of the last standing Guardian Yaksha of Liyue, he is Xiao..."
"What!? Xiao ordered this Ganyu girl to watch over me!?"
"Well, from your information, it seems like he has."
"Ugh..." the Traveler groans, as he slumps himself on his chair.

He needed to confront Xiao about this.
Why was it that Xiao was the one to have ordered Ganyu to watch over him?
Did Xiao think that Aether was incapable of protecting himself?
Aether just endlessly stared at his food, not taking a single bite out of it.
"Paimon thinks you should start eating your food... Paimon might eat it if you don't!" Paimon says, looking at Aether concerned.
"Ugh, this whole Alatus Xiao this is confusing me," Aether says, as he takes a bite out of his now-cold food.
"Paimon understands, but you still shouldn't leave food out like that! This is very good!" Paimon had finished her plate.
"I get it, calm down, don't worry."
After some minutes, Aether had finished his plate.
"Finally! See, this is why you shouldn't leave your food out! It probably tasted so cold and so chewy, you probably took longer..." Paimon went on lecturing the blonde about why he shouldn't leave his food out, but the blonde wasn't interested about that.
He was more so interested with Xiao.
"Hey, Paimon, I'm going to leave you in the hands of Xiangling, I have some personal matters to attend to..." Aether explains, as Paimon looks at him defeated.
"Alright... Just be safe and don't forget about Paimon!"
"Okay okay!"

After a day of journeying from Liyue Harbour and back to Wangshu Inn, Aether was alone, and the moon was out.
He did kind of miss the presence of Paimon, but there were more important issues at hand.
He needed to find Xiao, and confront him.
It didn't take long for the blonde to find Xiao sitting at the edge of the rooftop.
"Alatus, I know it was you who requested Ganyu to watch over me in my sleep." Aether folds his arms across as he looks up at the Yaksha.
"So what if it was, what is it that you wish to know?" Xiao responds, teleporting next to Aether, startling the blonde.
"Why me? There are a lot of other people to do this whole Alatus act with, but why me?" the Traveler asks, facing the Yaksha.
"One, this is not an act, and two, you out of all others, has piqued my interest. I hope you're aware by now that I have a negative karma surrounding me, meaning that if mortals stay near me, they will start to experience bad side effects. But you, you have showed no bad signs of being affected by my karma. This is the first time I have come across this," Xiao finally concludes.
"I see, so instead of explaining directly why you wanted to know about your karma affecting me," Aether questions," You thought it was a good idea for this random lady to watch over me?"
"It would seem too idiotic of me to just barge in and explain to you about this, after all, I know that you're an immortal human, and that little friend of yours will probably worry too much."
"Oh? You know I'm immortal?"
"Immortality has shown that my karma shows negative signs later on than if the person wasn't immortal. Rex Lapis showed no signs of negative effects, and he was immortal and wielded elemental power. You wield elemental power without a vision, and you just confirmed that you are immortal. You will never experience the side effects of my karma."
"Hmm... Well if thats the case then, how about we spend some time together?" Aether offers.
"What?"
"You know, we could get to know eachother, and also because you seem very lonely."
"I..." Xiao huffs, looking away.
He knew making bonds with people only will result in loss, but Aether seemed different.
Different in a good way.
"Alright," Xiao finally says, "I'll spend time with you."

woo
990 words