The Spark [Xiao x Aether]

The unusual illness |||

The blonde's eyes opened and he found himself on that same cliff he and Xiao were on just not too long ago. He rubbed his eyes to confirm he wasn't dreaming. It all seemed pretty real. He glanced at his lover and noticed how he was admiring the stars. The night sky did look pretty astonishing after all.

As to why he was back there, that was most likely Istaroth's way of saying "thank you" for taking the time to chat with him for so long.

The time was changed to a couple of hours back. Meaning the two boys never went back to their teapot and stayed on the Starsnach cliff. But what happened while the traveler was asleep just now?

He noticed his head was on his partner's shoulder, still resting as it did before. The only thing that changed seemed to be that the Yaksha was playing with Aether's hair. It felt relaxing so he didn't want to question it. His boyfriend didn't even seem to realize that he was awake. He was too distracted by the night sky.

Everything around them was so calm. For whatever reason, the boy didn't feel as nervous as he did before. Seems like talking things out with the goddess of time helped him out a little. From what he observed, the Adeptus also was pretty relaxed. His eyes didn't have that sharp gaze they always did, instead, they were wide open.

For some time he didn't want to let the other know he was awake. He wished to rest for a while. It wasn't often that they got time to be this close. He also needed time to adjust to this new feeling he was experiencing before saying anything.

In their conversation not too long ago, while talking about ways to help the blonde get used to this, the woman with long white hair told him that everything takes time, especially feelings. It seemed like a suggestion so he decided to take it to heart. It sounded stupid but maybe she was right. If he took things slowly and decided to get used to this then maybe he wouldn't look so nervous around his lover anymore.

"I love you. I hope you know that." The Yaksha said softly as he placed a kiss on his partner's forehead thinking he was still asleep. Usually, he didn't say stuff like this without hesitating. But now, he said it so freely. The traveler wanted to show him that he was awake but didn't. He decided to pretend a while longer. He secretly hoped he'd hear more of this.

Xiao was always awkward and somewhat shy when it came to stuff like this. Did he always say these kinds of things when Aether was asleep? The boy blushed slightly at the thought of that.

Suddenly, The Adeptus flinched and looked his partner straight in the eyes he had closed. He definitely noticed the blush. There was no doubt.

Or did he?

He stared at him for some time then looked back at the sky.

Seems like he didn't notice that the traveler was awake and just pretending. He felt bad for doing this but he wanted to do this just for a while longer. The feeling slowly stopped bothering him the more time he spent leaning onto his boyfriend's shoulder.

"I may not say it that often, but... I don't know what I would've done if I never met you. Life back then was like being trapped in a dark room...and then you showed up out of nowhere..." The Yaksha stopped and smiled in between his words. He was trying to be as quiet as possible not to wake the other up. "This is my first time being this close to someone...my siblings and I didn't interact physically that much. I'm constantly afraid of messing up somehow. I know you wouldn't get mad, but I want to make you happy..."

At that point, the blonde just felt bad. He most likely wasn't supposed to hear this. The feeling just started coming back and he felt strange again.

"Maybe next time tell me when I'm awake and conscious..." He teased as he finally 'woke up'.