Conqueror of Demons [Xiao x Reader]

4

"Hi."

"...Hello."

Just like she had promised the previous night, Y/N was back on the roof balcony, almond tofu in hand to deliver to the adeptus.

He could only sigh. Although he did say yes, he didn't expect her to actually go through with it. Most humans tend to stay far away from Xiao. They either think he's scary or don't wish to come across as disrespectful to the Adepti. But she didn't seem to care about that at all.

"You... really are a difficult being to comprehend." He said, taking the plate from her hands.

She could only tilt her head. "What do you mean by that?"

"You wish to get closer to me, but..." He paused, "...that's not a wise choice."

She stared at him for a brief moment before simply shrugging in response. "Well... I don't know what to tell you then." She said, looking out at the setting sun over the mountains of Liyue.

He watched her, dazed. He suddenly remembered he had almond tofu and was brought back to reality, easily cleaning his plate until the meal was completely gone. When it came to almond tofu, Xiao wouldn't leave even a crumb behind.

"The sky."

The Yaksha lifted his head abruptly as he heard the girl speak, turning his full attention to her.

"I love sunsets. I love all the pretty mix of blue, pink and purple. I love the stars and the moon in the horizon. This time of day is my favorite." She smiled as she spoke, reminiscing of her childhood when she would watch the sunset with her mother.

"Do you like sunsets, Xiao?"

"I'm impartial to them. I've seen countless sunsets in my lifetime. They are always the same to me." He said.

She laughed. "You know? I knew you were gonna say that. You just aren't looking hard enough, all sunsets are different." She turned her eyes to him, long lashes eyeing him up and down when a stain on his shirt caught her attention.

"Did you dribble on yourself?" She teased, pointing at his shirt.

Xiao looked down to where she was pointing, and immediately his face flared up, eyes widening in shock. He turned away quickly, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Y-You have no respect for the Adepti!" He exclaimed, hair frazzled and cheeks red. "I'm leaving."

"W-Wait! I'm sorry!" She gasped out, chasing after him as he was about to leave. "I was just trying to lighten the atmosphere... Here." She dug around in her bag for a moment before pulling out a small pack of tissues, holding it out for him to take.

He stared at it for a moment before looking back up at her, eyebrows raised.

She sighed, extending her arm even more. "Come on, it's not bad to receive help every once in a while. Take them." She persisted.

Accepting defeat, he begrudgingly took the pack of tissues from her hands, holding them to his chest in embarrassment before parting without a word.

"Huh, he was very cute just then." She mumbled, gazing out at the now dark scenery.  Y/N suddenly felt the exhaustion of the day come toppling on top of her, and the realization that she had a lunch scheduled with her boss only seemed to wear her out even more.

Don't get her wrong, she loved her boss to death, but being around him drained the life out of her.

-

"Ahahaha! You handle your spice so well, my lady!"

Xingqiu was just full of laughter today. The two had gone out for spicy noodles so he could look over the script she showed Yunjin for the play, but apparently he had other things on his mind.