Archon war AU angst and fluff
Alatus (Xiao) is serving under his father, Morax, but with his father becoming more aggressive and controlling by the day, Alatus finds himself drifting away from him. He spends more time away from home, in his mother's...
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Barbatos POV:
I invited Alatus to my home, mostly because I need to get closer to him so I can execute my plan, it shouldn't be too difficult since he's already decided to be my ally, but relationships still take effort, romantic or platonic
"This is my home" I say, as I lead the slightly shorter man into my home, he seems to be amazed by how different the architecture is here in Mondstadt compared to Liyue
It's not all that impressive, but Alatus most likely has only seen Liyuean houses, seeing as his father seems to be sheltering him quite a bit
I look at him with a smile, he doesn't notice since he's looking all around the entrance of my home "so, what do you want to do?" I ask him
He turns to look at me quickly "oh uh... I don't know, but um... Aren't I here to help you with some sort of war plans?" he says
"Ah, about that..." I say, not being able to tell him about my plan to take Morax down from the inside
"You... Have a plan right?" Alatus asks me, I either need to think of a decoy plan, or risk looking like a dumbass to him
"Well, not really... I've just been kind of idle in the war at the moment..." I say, risking looking like a dumbass because making a plan on the spot is never a good idea
He looks slightly confused "why did you recruit me then?" he asks, it's a good question for him to ask, but he probably should've asked that before he decided on what to do
"It was mostly because I need a few allies, since I don't really have any, and I thought you would make a good one since you seem so powerful" I add a bit of flattery to my reason to get him to like me more
"I'm not sure I'm as powerful as you think..." he says, not confident whatsoever in his abilities
"Don't be like that, of course you're as powerful as I think you are" I give him a kind smile and watch as a light blush creeps onto his face
"You really think that?" he asks, trying not to blush
"Of course I do!" I say reassuringly, though, I actually have no clue whatsoever how powerful he is, I've never seen him fight before
He smiles lightly and says "thanks" before giving me a light hug, it surprises me a bit, but I hug back, glad that my plan's kind of working
He pulls himself out of my arms, obviously not wanting to make the hug a long one, which is fine by me, I just want to make him like me as much as possible
We both smile at each other for a moment "anyway, have you thought of anything you want to do?" I ask
He shakes his head "no, not really, you?" he says, this could be the perfect opportunity to make my move, but I need to be careful that whatever I say doesn't make him dislike me
"Maybe you could tell me a bit about yourself?" I suggest, it's the best way to get information, while also getting closer to him
"Oh... Uh... I don't know what I'd tell you about..." he says, thinking
"It can be anything, I just kind of what to chat, ya know?" I say, getting any information about Morax from him would be great, so I try to coax him into telling me literally anything
"Hm... Well... Ya I have nothing" he says, not really having any social skills
"Ok, that's fine" I say, giving him a reassuring smile to hide my disappointment, I really wanted some information "how about I play you a song?" I suggest instead, everyone loves my music so it might be a good way to bond
"Hm, ok" he says, looking quite curious about the songs he's heard a bit about from other gods and the such
"All right, I'll go grab my flute" I go deeper into my house to go get it, I come back within minutes, flute in hand, then I begin to play a song
It's a very beautiful song that no one could resist, Alatus seems mesmerized by the music, listening to all the tiny details of the song
I soon finish the song "so, how did you like it?" I ask, even though I already know the answer
"It was amazing!" he says with a smile, his compliment makes me smile too, it's the weirdest thing, I've heard the same compliment from a million others, but from him it's different
"Thank you!" I say with a smile, hoping that this makes him like me more, why am I so obsessed with this anyway? I could just kiss him and boom, revenge plan done. But for some reason I'm waiting until we're closer
But why should I wait? He obviously likes me, and I don't need to wait for a freakishly long time to be able to go through with my plans
Having him as my boyfriend would help me take down Morax from the inside easier anyway, so why wait? I guess it's the small fear of rejection inside me
If he rejects me, I have no way of taking Morax down, and I'll most likely end up dying in this godforsaken war, but the chances of him rejecting me are pretty slim so...
Should I just go for it? There's not much of a point in waiting, and even if he hates me after I can recruit one of the other Adepti to help me take down Morax instead
So with these thoughts in mind, I put my hands on Alatus' shoulders and lean in to kiss him on the lips
