"Oh my god!" Your shriek nearly deafened the yaksha while your nails dug into his shoulder and back. The wind whipped your hair into both of your faces, much to his dismay as he struggled to keep track of his footing. "This is crazy! This is awesome!" Another leap and your heart dropped to your stomach in a fashion that sucked the breath out of your lungs. "W-wait this is terrifying! Xiao! Slow down!"
You asked for this yet have the audacity to panic? Xiao tensed under the increasing grip around his body and made another leap. Well, a 'leap' is a bit of an understatement; whether he was teleporting or zipping through the air, you couldn't tell--it happened so fast your mind couldn't keep up. The two of you were nearing the top of Mount Tianheng, and with every 'jump' he took you'd look down to find another fifty or so feet added to the distance between you two and the ground.
Just as Xiao was beginning to think you wanted him to stop, an exasperated laugh left your lips. "This is awesome!"
The yaksha clicked his tongue at the myriad of sounds you were making. First you were screaming with excitement, then terror, then laughing, and now you're gasping? Will you just make up your mind? Are you scared or not scared? He couldn't keep up with your quick switches just as you couldn't keep up with his speed.
And then there was the fact that you asked him specifically to carry you up the mountain, not climb up with you or merely teleport to the top. Was this the duty of a boy friend? He didn't recall you ordering Aether to carry you at all during your travels. Minus the time you had your leg clawed by that lawachurl, but that doesn't really count--
His feet lightly landed onto the grass at the top of the mountain and he stilled, stealing a glance at your profile. "We're here." Archons, your grip finally relaxed against his stinging skin. He was expecting that classic dumbfounded look on your face, but you pulled away with the widest--and dumbest--grin once your feet lowered to the ground.
"That was amazing-!" You nearly lost your balance from the vertigo of travelling so quickly, but Xiao grabbed your arm before you could stumble over the edge of the cliff. "Can we do that again?"
"You can't be serious," his eyes narrowed in disdain.
"One hundred percent! Come on, please?"
Wha-What is this all of a sudden?! Xiao averted his eyes the second your pleading ones took hold. He let go of your arm as his gaze fell to the grass.
You couldn't contain the gasp within your lips, "You're...blushing?" You don't remember if it's happened before, but the very tips of his ears were pink and it was painfully obvious in the sunlight of late morning. "Xiao, the Vigilant Yaksha, BLUSHING?!"
"I suggest you keep your quips to a minimum unless you--"
"I can't believe this is happening! What did I do to make you blush? You're ears are bright red!" Your hands cupped the sides of your face as you freaked out. He was so neutral when it came to emotion, but the past sixteen hours or so he's shown you more of his vulnerable side. But the adeptus was visibly showing emotion! "This never happened before!"
"There's nothing timid about you, having the courage to mock me. So fight me," he started to raise his glare from the ground. "How long do you think your body will last against my blows?"
"Rex Lapis must've blessed me-!"
In your excitement, you failed to remember that the ledge was right behind you. One second you were laughing your ass off with a face as bright red as Xiao's, and the next you were flailing breathlessly in the air attempting to find solid ground. Xiao's figure shrunk at the top of the cliff as you plummeted. The shock rendered you unable to scream and instead you gasped for breath as the wind whistled in your ears.
Xiao lifted his gaze in time to watch you fall over, and he simply moved so that his gaze could still follow your shrinking figure. "It's a wonder humans survived this long," he muttered with a slightly amused expression. Does she not realize she has her wind glider? He failed to notice the corner of his lips curling upward.
He had no intention of letting you plummet to your death. But after the stunt you just pulled on him, he figured it wouldn't hurt to tease you a bit too. You were by no means anywhere near the ground or any other hazardous objects; his enhanced vision and depth perception confirmed it. Why not let you fall a bit? Maybe your wits would return to you and you'd actually remember the glider attached to your back.
Three...four...five...Xiao counted the seconds. You were nearly half-way down the cliffside. ...Six...She's not going to remember, is she? Seven..."Tch." He prepared to jump.
I-I'm going to die! You finally managed to inhale a reasonable amount of air, not daring to peek behind you at the ground that was closing in. Your thoughts were racing with nothing but panic. Think, think! Think of something! You wanted to smack yourself when you remembered who accompanied you. He wouldn't just let you die like this, it was stupid of you to even forget that much! You involuntarily reached for the cliffside where Xiao was now nothing but a miniscule dot in the distance.
"Xiao!"
Warm arms wrapped themselves around you the instant his name fell from your lips, and the familiar sensation of teleporting enveloped you. You spun around and hugged him as tightly as you could the second your feet touched the ground. He didn't even tense up this time--
"You didn't remember your glider," he pointed out nonchalantly. Almost teasingly.
"That's why you just stood there?!" He grumbled something you couldn't hear and returned your embrace with his head buried at the crook of your neck. His ears were still red. Are you telling me this is how he acts when he's shy?!
The two of you stayed in that position for awhile, never quite loosening your hold on the other as if to ensure they wouldn't float away like an anemo slime or a bloaty floaty. A cool breeze slid across your skin--an intimate gesture Xiao wouldn't dare outright commit, much less think of. And yet the wind entangled itself in your hair much like his hand would clasp around your nape. It seemed to embody the long-lost gentleness of the yaksha. It was subtle. Soft. An indirect display of affection. Maybe it was just your imagination.
Just awhile longer, Xiao's heart yearned as he held you close until rational thought returned to power. Your absence would sting more now that he's seen you, but that didn't take away from the fact that this visit allowed the sealing of your bond, and therefore saved you from a painful demise for the time being. The last thing he wanted was for you to return to Childe, but maybe this is what would prevent his karma from touching you. The farther you are from him, the safer you'd be.
But for right now, just awhile longer, he'll allow himself to drown in your warmth.
...................
"You seem more than eager to get back to work, Mezzetin," Childe teased as he led you through the halls of the palace. The two of you had just returned to Snezhnaya, but the Tsaritsa had apparently no intentions of letting either of you rest after your long journey.
"Don't mistake my happiness for the Lantern Rite as happiness for the Tsaritsa's operations. I'm only cooperating to keep the peace in Teyvat."
"So, when are you going to tell me what you and Xiao did?"
"Excuse me? Since when is my private life any of your business?"
"I have the right to know since you so blatantly disobeyed my orders not to leave the harbor." Childe grabbed the door handle and faced you. "I expected more professionalism from you, but honestly, I'm not at all surprised," he baited with narrowed eyes. "I could tell the Tsaritsa, you know."
Your heart seemed to skip a beat at the thought of facing her again. Something about that nightmare you had when you were with Xiao ignited a vague fear of her that you didn't really have before. You swallowed hard before jutting your chin up at the harbinger. "Do it."
"Oh?" Childe squinted as he towered over you.
"Do it," you repeated. "Who do you think she'll discipline more, since it was a certain harbinger's idea to bring me along and didn't properly watch me?" Childe stared at you for a few silent seconds before twisting the door handle and entering Dottore's lab without another word. Yeah, that's what I thought.
"GAHHHHH!" A deafening, sickening cry of pain snapped you out of your gloating session. It was much like the rest that you've heard; the test subjects of Dottore were often strangers to mercy. But unlike the trials before, there were no piles of bodies lying in the middle of the arena.
"Did he just start for the day?" You forcefully peeled your eyes away from the suffering man and kept them on Childe. It would be unusual if he did; he started in the early morning hours, but you and Childe had arrived in mid-afternoon.
"Dunno," he shrugged slightly.
"Ah! Childe." Dottore noticed your presence and gave a signature manic grin, his arms spreading wide. "We have made a breakthrough!"
"This doesn't look like a breakthrough to me," you muttered loud enough for him to hear. Anger flickered across the masked man's face before he reset his eyes on his fellow harbinger.
"This is the fifth subject of the day." The man's cold stare eyed the suffering Fatui agent with something similar to a sadistic excitement. "It appears your idea to bring that brat with you succeeded."
You didn't hear Dottore, intent on watching the Fatui agent closely. He had finally stopped shrieking, and he pushed himself to his feet rather unsteadily while wiping the sweat away from his forehead. He was healthy despite being drenched in sweat and breathing heavily while he recovered from the subsiding pain. You let out a sigh of relief you didn't know you were holding in. You didn't have to watch another person die at your feet--
Wait a minute. He wasn't dying.
A cool shiver crawled down your spine at the realization, and you flinched when a manic laugh escaped Dottore. "That was the original serum at work. How's that for a breakthrough, brat?"
"That's...impossible," you uttered with wide eyes.
"Thank your superior for making it possible."
Your attention slid to Childe, who didn't bother to look you in the eye. His expression was unreadable, and it remained that way when he escorted you to your room in silence. His presence couldn't feel more hostile in that moment.
"You...my bond...," you choked when the two of you were at the door of your room. "You lied. You used me! You used our bond for your own selfish purposes! How could you?"
"Don't start this, Mezzetin," a weary sigh left him as he turned to you. His allegedly guilty appearance only infuriated you.
"Outside, now."
The second the two of you were outside the palace walls, you let yourself snap into a fit of rage. Childe had barely started to turn around when an ice shard shot at his face, slicing across his cheek. His blood splattered onto the snow, and he wiped at his face to examine his blood on his fingers. "Mezzetin--"
"Don't 'Mezzetin' me!" Hundreds more icicles shot at him in a flurry until he had no choice but to defend himself and summon his hydro blades to parry the blows. "This was the last straw! I'll kill you!"
"Then I'll be more than happy to give you a fight." Despite his usual excitement when it came to battle, he was calm and collected, even so much as cold and distant. He lacked the usual spark fighting always gave him. His eyes were empty and lacking of enthusiasm.
"Tch." Your vision glinted in the sunlight as the temperature surrounding you dropped below zero. Snow whipped through the air to create a barricade that caged the two of you in a small arena. The blizzard made the snowflakes like needles that could cut through skin if one got too close to the edge. Your own powers seldom hurt you, but in your anger, a few rogue icicles cut across your forehead, arms, and your back.
At the pace you were going at, it was self-destructive.
Childe noted this as he parried your every attack despite his blades turning frozen solid now. "Mezzetin! Keep this up, and I won't hold back!" His warning fell on deaf ears.
"What makes you think I want you to hold back? I'm settling this here and NOW!" The snow beneath his feet erupted, sending him spiraling out of the eye of the storm and into the blizzard's rage. You summoned your polearm without hesitation and began to walk towards him.
His arms were stuck to his blades, which were stuck in the ground. He must've attempted to summon a new set and accidentally froze his limbs. He watched you approach, hunched over to shield himself from the blizzard.
"You said visiting him would be good for me!" Your screams were carried away by the wind. "That you realized your own selfishness! This was nothing but more manipulation, wasn't it? You're NOTHING but a lying monster!" The wind grew harsher. Your blade grew sharper once you were a few feet from him.
Cold eyes looked down upon the Tsaritsa's war dog. What a pathetic site it was; an esteemed harbinger on his knees before you. A harsh kick to his jaw dislodged his hands from the ice they were trapped in, and more blood was splattered onto the snow.
"That's it," a smile of satisfaction spread across Childe's lips, making your eyes narrow in disgust. "You're finally showing potential." He sat up with his back to you. "If you constantly fight like this, I'd listen to you more carefully."
"Shut up--!" Your lance stabbed at his figure, but in one fluid motion he swung around and deflected your blade with his hand. A sudden burst of electricity sent you flying several feet backwards. "Ngh!"
"But unfortunately for you, ojou-chan, you misinterpreted the entire situation." Your clearing vision settled on the electro delusion that glinted at his hip. His figure stood over you and a sharp, hot pain tore through your side.
"Gah!"
"I have the right to discipline my subordinates as I see fit," he twisted his blade and dug it deeper into you, completely uncaring that you were squirming around and twitching from the electric shocks pulsing through your body. "Listen closely, girlie, because I won't say it again." You desperately clawed at his weapon, but he held it firmly in place and refused to remove it. "You needn't tell me what you learned from Mr. Zhongli or your adeptus boyfriend. I don't care for that information.
"My bringing you back to Liyue was truly for your own benefit, and it just so happens it was for the Tsaritsa's benefit as well. Make no mistake Mezzetin, I am on your side when it comes to private life. But when it comes to work and the Tsaritsa, my loyalty lies with Snezhnaya.
"I don't care if you don't believe me. If you so badly want to escape the Tsaritsa's grasp, you have much to learn. Patience, for starters." He ripped his blade out of you. "Don't take this too personally, ojou-chan. I don't condone disorderly conduct from anyone under my supervision."