Alone { xɪᴀᴏ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ}

【Ｆｌｏｗｅｒｓ ａｎｄ Ｖａｓｅｓ】

You admired the bracelet on your wrist as you got dressed for the day. You were getting up earlier than usual in order to see Xiao before he left for the day in order to ask him a question.
You had been putting it aside as you were still a bit nervous when it came to approaching him beforehand which was shown clearly on your calendar. Which had "talk to Xiao" crossed out on everyday of the month except for today, your last chance

Walking out as confidently as you could (maybe a bit too confidently because you weren't paying attention and ended up tripping... on nothing.) you made your way to the balcony where you saw the lone adeptus staring out ahead

"Xiao."

"Hm."

You were starting to regret your choice of coming up here since it seemed you and him were only on a "hm" basis but there was no backing out now.

"Over there" you pointed to a forest area a bit away from the inn "I talked about it a while ago but it's a good flower picking spot. I was thinking maybe we could go?"

"Why would I want to go 'flower picking'?"
He made sure to really accent the disinterest in his voice when he said flower picking which discouraged you a bit.

In reality Xiao would have blatantly said no if it was anyone else asking. Yet again he found himself caving a bit just for you and your annoying smile.

"I need flowers for my uhhh NEW VASE!" You totally didn't make an excuse on the spot. "Pleaseeeeee, I have no one else and I'd really like to go with youuu."

"Fine."

You were definitely surprised
No, amazed
Actually, Astonished
He actually agreed sure your were being annoying and begging but you didn't expect him to give in so easily. If only you knew how weak he was for you.

"oh."

"Oh?"

"OH MY GOD OKAY UM LETS GO TOMORROW MORNING ILL MEET YOU HERE AGAIN" You were way too loud and speaking way too fast but Xiao heard what you were saying. You then left to go do your job which you were now a bit late for. Luckily verr had a soft spot for you so you wouldn't be in too much trouble.
...

It was the next morning and you were going flower picking with Xiao. You still couldn't believe it actually. You weren't much of a morning person but today you got up even earlier than usual which was definitely a sign of your excitement.

Grabbing a light bag to carry the flowers you went off to meet the adeptus on the balcony.

"XIAOOOO" you had to admit  your excitement led you to get a bit too comfy with xiao but he didn't seem to mind it so you went with it.

"Let's go."

"Okay!"
You turned around to walk out the door but you realized Xiao wasn't following behind you.

"Xiao?"
You turned around to find Xiao standing on the rails of the balcony

"What are you doing!? We should be WALKING out of the inn not jumping off of the inn."

"It's faster"

"A faster way to death! C'mon we're walking down those steps like civilized people." Grabbing his arm you pulled him down the steps as he reluctantly followed.

Walking out you noticed the surprised stare of verr goldet and knew you'd have to explain everything to her later. Once you were out you started the trek over to the forest. Neither of you talked much except for the occasional slime showing up in which Xiao would call you weak for freaking out over such a thing.

Eventually you got there,

"Xiao look a bunch of sweet flowers, let's start over there." You paced over there and Xiao followed quietly behind secretly enjoying your happiness.

"Wow this one has a really vibrant yellow, it reminds me of your eyes."

"Hm"

"Okay you could reply with a word or two, or is my compliment not enough for you hmm?"

"Whatever"

"Fine then-" you cleared your throat to prepare yourself and Xiao for the greatest compliment he'd ever receive.  "If I may compare you to a summers day-I think that's how it goes?-Id say your beautiful amber uh orbs look as stunning as piss."

"Are all mortals this annoying?"

"You didn't like it?"

"It's fucking terrible"

"You just have no taste in literature-Oooo look over there in the water it's a horsetail! There's not many of those around here"

You ran off again to pick a few which ended in you not paying attention to your surroundings. There was a hilichurl that was sleeping under a tree.
"Watch out!"

The hichurl swung at you and just barely missed because of Xiao's quick reflexes. He then quickly delt with the hilichurl before getting back to you

"What were you thinking? You should pay more attention to your surroundings before you get seriously hurt."

"Sorry I'm just not used to dealing with hilichurls and all." It felt embarrassing to know that your cause of death would be one hilichurl that you probably could have killed in seconds had you been in front of a screen

"Well get used to it or you'll die an early death."
He paused, before thinking for a bit
"But if you awaken to a knife at your throat, if monsters dig their claws into you, if death comes knocking at your door. Call out my name, Adeptus Xiao. I will be here when you call."

The line felt so much more magical having it being told to you personally and it felt as if you were on cloud nine until you thought about it logically.

"I can't call you every time I encounter a basic slime though, right?"

Xiao would come anytime you called him but he didn't say that instead he only cocked a brow in return
"Soooooo, what if you trained me? Nothing harsh just basic self defense and all."

"No."

"Wha-"

"No."

"Bu-"

"No, now are you done picking flowers."

Deciding to ask the question again some other time you replied "yep just let me do one more thing"

You sat your bag down and dug through it until you found the vibrant sweet flower you had picked up previously

"Here" You tucked the flower into his hair
And ended up gawking at how pretty he was
"You're beautiful" you ended up voicing your thoughts out loud which you didn't mind because it was the truth but you still could have sworn you saw the faintest shade of pink stretch across Xiao's face.

"Let's go back the the inn now "
"Sure!"

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HELLO
THIS CHAPTER WAS DEFINITELY THE MOST FUN TO WRITE AND ID LIKE TO THINK THIS STORY IS OFFICIALLY ON A SMOOTH

I DONT HAVE MUCH TO SAY HERE SO UH HAVE A NICE DAY

ILL TRY TO WRITE AGAIN SOON UNTIL THEN GET REST AND REMEMBER TO DRINK WATER