— Love Rivalry (kaveh X Reader)

“ GENSHIN IMPACT !! ” 🏷️— SNEZHNAYA DOES NOT BELIEVE IN TEARS (CHILDE X READER).

＃CHARACTERS! — CHILDE.

＃CONTENT WARNING(S)! — ANGST.

＃MASTERLIST! — HERE.

＃ALT ACCOUNTS! — @yyolkchi (spam/sketch posting account!) & @ddollipop (mature fic account!)

＃A/N! — INSPIRED BY THE OFFICIAL RELEASE OF THE HARBINGER DESIGNS, SOMEONE CONVINCE ME NOT TO SIMP FOR PANTALONE, HELP ME.

Snezhnaya isn't always so bitter and cold.

Sure, the winter is unrelenting, the snow piles high, up and above the heads of small children who know of nothing else outside the nation's borders, —but there's warmth to be found in this icy place. Warmth comes and goes like the frosty winds that sweep across the land. It's fleeting, and painfully unreliable, but perhaps the worst part of it all is that you reach for it every single time it comes back around, no matter how long it's been without a single flickering flame off in the distance to let you know it hasn't been extinguished.

Childe comes and goes as he pleases. He's a Fatui Harbinger first, and your lover second. You know that to be the case, even when he denies it, even when he insists to you that he does what he does in order to build a better life, —for himself first, then his family and you, because you've "always been included in that from the day I fell in love with you." Family. It's nice to think about, but it's hard to imagine that Childe sees you so fondly when he hardly ever sees you at all these days. His visits have gotten shorter, only lasting a week at most, and they're now few and far between. His travels have gotten longer, and he comes back with more injuries than he ever has before.

But you can't seem to let him go, no matter what he does, no matter what he says, no matter how many times he disappears into the distance and leaves you hanging by a thread for days, weeks, months. . . You wait. You turn down the men that only swing by the confectionery shop you work at to flirt with you while they mindlessly order small boxes of chocolates or fudge. You go home to an empty bed, saving his side just in case he crawls in through the window again in the dead of night. You hold that shirt of his that he left at your apartment not-so-accidentally half a year ago to the lower half of your face, breathing in whatever's left of his scent after all this time. It's fading, just like he is. . . But you won't wash it, nor will you wash yourself clean of him. The ties between him and you have turned into iron chains. Sometimes, they curl around your neck and pull taut until you're sputtering, falling to your knees on the floor next to his side of the bed.

You weep. You worry. You drive yourself mad wondering if he's okay, if he's injured, if he's doing alright. And then he waltzes his way back in like he never left, —and you should be angry. You should probably hate him by now after all the sleepless nights and harrowing days he's put you through, but the moment he returns with that arrogant laugh and that cocky smile, you've already lost the fight. He opens his arms and you've slotted yourself between them before you have half the mind to stop yourself, letting him hold you even though he doesn't deserve to. The thick fur of his coat tickles your neck, then weighs heavily on your spine when he sheds it like an unneeded extra layer of skin and places it around your shoulders.

Now's the time when you should shove it off, look him dead in those ocean blue eyes and tell him that you're tired of this, —that it's all too much, and you deserve better. But when he's here, he's the best man you could ever ask for. He's doting, even when his body aches and it's hard for him to move around properly. He understands when you crack under the pressure, letting you cry on his shoulder as he rubs little circles into your skin by the fire. It crackles, and your heart sings for him. Childe is all you've ever wanted. For so many years, you've watched him grow and change, becoming the person he is today who is many things: some good, some bad. But the bitter truth remains that you are an affair, second to his job that he works for tirelessly. As long as he's a Harbinger, the only place you'll ever have is as a homewrecker.

Here you are though. . . Again.

"Easy," he requests, voice strained from the pulse of his aching ribs, "—I missed you too."

"It's been two months since I last saw you, Childe," you comment, sounding much more bitter than you'd intended. "No letters, no nothing, and I. . . I was scared something had happened. Something bad."

Guilt floods through his veins. He hadn't even realized it had been quite that long. His tireless work which often requires an intense amount of traveling is known to easily allow him to lose track of time. Still, he knows he should have sent someone to give you a message somewhere in between his camp setups. He should have done more to ensure that you weren't losing sleep over him.

"I'm sorry," he relents, voice thick with melancholy. "Time gets away from me on jobs. That's not an excuse, though. I need to be more mindful of your feelings, and I'll work on that."

You hate this. When he has time to spare for you, the last thing you want to do is spend it talking about all the ways he's made you worry or feel small unwittingly. In a way, you feel equally responsible for your own feelings. He never misrepresented himself to you after all. . . You knew what you were getting yourself into, and you jumped headfirst into the fire. Because Childe, above all things, is warm. 

"We can talk about it later," you mumble against the skin of his neck.

Later will likely never come, but you're keen on overlooking that. For now, at least. Until he leaves once more in a few days time, and you're forced to reconcile with loneliness again. And so the cycle will begin; he leaves, and you tell yourself this is the last time. When he comes back, you'll pull yourself free of his grasp: the one that's ice cold sometimes, but still manages to nip at your moth-eaten, frostbitten heart. But then the next time comes around, and you find yourself in his embrace again.

"People are starting to stare."

They're common folk from the looks of it, just regular citizens of Snezhnaya, same as you. Even so, it's impossible to know when someone may be working as an informant. Childe's head on a platter is worth at least a couple hundred million Mora. . .

"You're pretty," Childe notes, a playful smile pulling at the corners of his lips, "they can't help themselves."

That's far removed from the reality of the situation, but his comment still makes you giggle. The truth is that Childe is somewhat of a Snezhnayan celebrity; much as all the Harbingers are. They rule with an iron fist over a great deal of politics, trade, travel, economic systems, and social functionality. The Harbingers are well respected, but also immeasurably feared. That is the real reason all the people have begun to throw glances your way. You're with Childe.

"Hardly," you brush the comment off, stifling a giggle.

"Hardly?" Childe parrots, "—Don't be so modest. You're the most beautiful person in Snezhnaya. In all of Teyvat, even. And trust me, I've probably seen every inch of this world. Parts of other worlds too, and none of it compares to you."

He means it. Not just outerly, though he does think your physical beauty is utterly unmatched, —but internally. When he's down and wondering if he should even bother to pull himself back up, he thinks of you, and you give him the strength he needs to move forward. He thinks of your smile, the way your eyes reflect starlight, the way your bleeding heart welcomes him and gives him shelter. When he sleeps beside you, he likes to imagine that he's sunken into your being, and that you've sunken into him. He sleeps behind your ribcage, right next to your beating heart, and you sleep next to his.

"You're laying it on thick tonight," you comment.

His compliments pile up like the snow at your feet, and you know what that means.

"You're not staying for long, are you?"

The glimmer in his eyes dies out a little as his face falls, and you wish you hadn't said anything. It's too late now though.

". . . Things haven't been easy since Rosalyne's death," he says. "Her work has been mitigated to the rest of us, and I've been given the tasks that require the most travel, since I'm the one who leaves Snezhnaya the most."

He's avoiding the question, and you sigh; warm breath hitting the cold air in a little cloud of vapor.

"You'll be gone by morning then?" You ask.

Childe opens his mouth to speak, but you already know the answer, so he purses his lips together a few seconds later. There's no point in rubbing salt in the wound.

"Let's go," you prompt, pulling him by the hand. "It's freezing, and you don't have a coat anymore."

"I don't really need one," he assures you, "I was born and raised here in Snezhnaya, after all. I'm more than used to the weather."

You just want to get inside. Both because your fingers have started to go numb, and because you know Childe has injuries that you're keen on looking after before the sun rises and daybreak comes. By then, he'll be gone again, and you'll be left to wait for him once more.

The way snow crunches under his feet is an almost comforting sound. It's been a while since you've heard it. There's a certain something to every little thing he does, —as if the world all but bends for his will and the universe seeks to bow at his feet. He's the only man alive you'd wait this long for.

He squeezes your hand as if to say "I'm sorry."

And you squeeze his in return to let him know that it's okay, —everything is fine— even though it isn't. It never really has been. But when this coat is draped over your shoulders, his fingers have laced with yours, and he's pulling you close to keep you warm, it's easy to convince yourself that maybe one day everything won't be so bad. He'll find a way to make things better for everyone: himself, his family, you. . . He'll find a way to ease the sting that comes when you wake up in the morning and he's not there.

He'll hold you to sleep, then pull away at the first sign of sunrise. Just like the icy winds of Snezhnaya, he'll come and go with the breeze.

They're bitter. They hurt. But they dry your tears when they swoop in from the north, and sometimes, they carry Childe's heartbeat along with them.

The thick blanket of snow along the ground glitters in the humble moonlight. Childe's hand is placed at the small of your back, matching the curve. And somehow, it's comforting in ways any apology he could ever give never would be. Once again, you're being swept away; washed out into his sea. You're drowning in him.

"I love you," he whispers, for your ears only.

Like it's just between the two of you, —some deep, dark secret, or something precious he hopes you'll only ever need to hear from him.

You'll think about that secret, that precious whisper, come morning when Childe sneaks away at the first sign of daylight. Maybe if you're lucky, you'll catch a glimpse of his footprints before the new snowfall rains down from the heavens and buries them, erasing all traces that he was ever even here in the first place.

"I love you too," you answer honestly.

It's all you have the will to say

But sometimes, I wish I didn't.

Ateez as stages of grief

Denial

Shock & Anger

Bargaining

Depression & Pain

Reconstruction & The Upward Turn

Acceptance

imagine reader trying on diluc's darknight hero costume and using it to bother him for fun XD

They were bulky but that didn’t stop you from slipping your arms through the sleeves, it didn’t hold you back from buttoning the shirt that didn’t belong to you, or stop yourself from slipping into the gloves that knew only one owner. You had a plan and you were going to enact that plan, whether these clothes liked it or not. 

Spinning on your socks, you looked at yourself in the floor length mirror with a grin screaming with pride. You looked awesome, even bad ass looking you might say; you looked ridiculous. The long shirt hung over your hips and even though you weren’t the smallest thing, you still swam in his clothes. It was hard to believe he was this much bigger than you -- it’s all that muscle. Still, you were giddy, and nothing was going to take that away from you. Even if you knew how silly this whole thing was. 

The ensemble was almost finished. Lastly, you ran to the small box, fingers shaking from excitement. It made it challenging to tie the string around your hair but you didn't give up. Once it was secured, you pulled on a few strands of hair covered by the string, chuckling at how they stuck out in disarray. One last look in the mirror told you it was time, the work had been completed, the transformation finished; the Darknight Hero was ready. 

Peaking around the corners, you searched for signs of him. Of course it was only him you wanted to pester -- not to mention you’d feel embarrassed if anyone were to see you. As mentioned before, you did look rather outrageous in this attire. Smart on your part for not wearing his pants when those clearly would have fallen down your legs and made you trip. 

“Ahem,” someone’s voice drifted in from behind you and when you turned your head to see, you caught a quizzical Adelinde staring at you, arms cross and foot tapping against the thin accent rug that lined the hall. 

“Hi, Adelinde,” you chuckled as you stood a little straighter, but not much. For some reason you felt the need to stalk your way around the halls in this outfit. Maybe this was why Diluc’s back hurt. “I’m just -” She held up her hand, eyes closing as she shook her head. With an understanding and placating smile, she pointed toward the door to the study. “Hehe, thanks!” You bound toward the door like a child ready to startle their parents while Adelinde followed after you as if this were the most normal thing that could happen today. 

The door creaked when you opened it. The sound caused you to wince and worry he’d turn around to see who was there but when you looked through the crack he hadn’t moved, or at least you expected as much. As carefully as you could, you pushed your way through while your gaze stayed fixed on Diluc’s back. His thick red hair flashing in the sunlight, short-sleeved shirt straining against the arm muscles that weren’t being used to their full potential. Diluc didn’t seem to notice your approach as you crept your way along the study wall, careful not to jostle any of the books and trinkets placed on the shelves. 

It took you a little longer to reach him but once you did, you debated quickly how to surprise him. Would you tackle him, poke him and duck out from his line of sight before he could notice, call out his name and leap into his arms? Then you wondered what the Darknight Hero would do -- you knew the answer.

Once you were close enough, you crossed your arms, stood extra tall, raised your chin and spoke in a deeper voice than normal, “Don’t move or the flames of justice will take you out.” 

Diluc froze, his muscles tensing as he lifted his head and slowly, confusingly slowly, turned to face you. The reaction on his face was priceless but you held yourself together, lifting your chin a little higher to kept the façade up. “W-what are you -” 

“I am the Darknight Hero, sworn to wipe out evil. Your time has come, evildoer.” With a swift point, and an extravagant flap of the floor length cape, you started Diluc down as he came to terms with what was happening. The stages of grief flashing across his face so quickly you wondered if this was how he got through each and every day. 

“y/n --” 

“I am not this person you speak. I am the Darknight Hero,” you reiterated, voice even deeper and more altered than before. 

“Where did you even find that?” 

“In the closet. You’re not very good at hiding things,” you spoke quickly, doing your best to not break character no matter how badly the laughter threatened to bubble up. You crossed your arms to hold it in while he took several steps toward you. 

“What is the reason for this?” 

As if on que, you threw the back of your hand to your forehead and lamented on the cause, “The darkness is just so overwhelming ...”

“A-are you making fun of me?” 

“It must be vanquished.” 

“y/n.” 

Tightening your fingers into a fist, you bent forward, defeated, “I can feel it spreading. My blade isn’t enough -- ” 

“I’m leaving.” 

“No! You can’t!” you yelled and reached for his wrist before he could get away. It took all your strength to pull him back toward you which meant you didn’t have any left to stop your laughter from breaking through, or the smile on your lips from growing because of his warming cheeks. “The corruption is too much, how ever will it be cleansed?” It was so hard to hold back your fun. Even with his expression growing more and more annoyed, you couldn’t stop yourself.  

Your grip on his arm loosened, the hood partially covering your face slipped further down over your mask and you reached to fix it when Diluc’s touch made you pause. His fingers found your wrist, his heat invaded your personal space as he stepped closer and, in an instant, your laughter was silenced with a kiss.

When he pulled back, all you could see was his lips. The sight of them made your heart skip a beat; you were thankful he couldn’t see how intently you stared at them. In your daze, he slid his hands around your head and took off the mask that barely fit your face. “Ah, that’s better,” he smirked playfully, before pulling the hood off your head. 

“W-wh-you’re unmasking the hero? How bold?” Diluc pulled on the string of the cape but caught it before it hit the ground. “You have to admit I looked good in it thought.” 

“I don’t think I do.” 

“AH! Offended!” you exclaimed and watched him drape the cape over the desk chair before placing the mask on a stack of papers. When he returned, he fussed with your hair and stood closer to you than he would anyone else. 

“Is it too much for me to prefer you this way?” Diluc brushed his hands over your shoulder, his fingers followed the line of the shirt collar you stole from him until it reached the buttons, you half expected he would try to take it back too. 

“What way?” you asked, curious as always about his reasoning. 

“Someone the hero wishes to protect?” 

His earnest answer would have surprised you if you hadn’t known him for years, if you hadn’t fallen for every tiny part of who he was. On the outside he was stoic, reserved, guarded, but on the inside he was more caring than the roots that supported a tree. “Aren’t you so smooth,” you replied and ran your hands up his chest and over his shoulders, fingers dangling above his back as you leaned in to kiss his nose. “If that’s how you like me -” 

“It is.” 

“Alright,” you began, but were cut off by a. A quick but loving peck that made your heart flutter nevertheless, “but,” you continued, pulling away from him slightly, “can I still wear the cape?” The tilt of his head and the exhausted look in his eyes led you to one answer but his defeated, ‘I give up’ response of, If you wish, led you to another. “Hehe, I like you,” you beamed, arms sliding off him as you ran to the chair, flipped the cape around your neck and tied it together. 

Practically jumping in excitement, you spun around not noticing the edges of the cape running into the desk and threatening to knock several items over. With a triumphant cheer, you grabbed the fabric, flung it open and dashed out of the room. 

“I may have made a mistake,” Diluc muttered, a heavy sigh following shortly after his words, but, soon, he disregarded the thought as the sound of your gleeful laughter flooded the hall and rejuvenating his spirit -- as soulmates often do. 

— you are the best thing that’s ever been mine —

you finally confess to xiao and give him comfort and reassurance. takes place right after the events of perilous trail, so spoilers if you haven’t played the quest yet!

gn! reader

genre: fluff, hurt, comfort, angst at the beginning.

warnings: spoilers for the recent event, xiao and reader have feelings for each other, love confessions, first kiss, i’m probably crying while writing this, it may be messy. i took inspiration from taylor swift’s mine and fly by sleeping with sirens. enjoy! (or join me in the crying about xiao club, that’s fine too).

“but when you find the thing that matters most may you never let it go”

— sleeping with sirens, fly

shadows all around, the feeling of flying upwards faster than light itself and your weapon swinging desperately at the ominous presences nearing your position. you should feel hopeful, right? thanks to yanfei’s intellect and reasoning, you’ve found a way out of the darkest depths of the chasm; yelan and xiao’s power has worked as expected on the fantastic compass and it’s propelling you skywards, toward a way out. but see, that’s exactly what’s nagging at you: xiao is using all of his strength and power to maintain the energy flow and his previous self-sacrificing way of thought, paired with the injuries he bore when he could finally reunite with your group, have been plaguing your subconscious with a sense of dread. as if on cue, at that moment, you observe xiao’s mask and the platform you’re standing on begin to shatter, his body sagging, he’s panting heavily, the current task he has at hand taking almost everything he has. yanfei is the first to speak “you can’t keep this up, it’s too much!” the yaksha averts his gaze, some crazy idea probably passing through his mind. fearing what he would be capable of doing next, you grab him by the shoulder, prompting him to focus his eyes on you: “xiao, listen to me! stop! you’re exhausted, we can figure this out, together, all of us!” the adeptus can’t bring himself to hold your gaze, not now, not when you, the person he most cares about, look on the verge of tears, not when what he’s about to do will probably be a goodbye he never imagined, nor wanted to have to witness. reacting quicker than wind, and before any of you have time to reach out for him, xiao has activated his anemo abilities and all of you are propelled to the end of the tunnel above, the platform shattering below him, leaving him to be swallowed into the darkest of nights. all you remember from that instant is your blurry vision, tears distorting a reality you can’t bear to accept, and then, not fully knowing if you’re imagining it, you think you can see a golden glow, a shooting star burning through this stygian apocalypse; and you pray to it, you pray to celestia and to all the archons who will listen to please, bring him back to me, please xiao come back safe.

a second it’s pitch black darkness, the next, sunlight is blinding your already distorted vision by the tears that won’t stop falling. you haven’t opened your eyes yet, you don’t want to see a world without xiao, the boy you’ve loved for so long, in it. in your numb state, you don’t realize the hand holding your shoulder delicately. it’s not until he calls your name softly, that you start getting out of your trance. “x-xiao? you are okay? you are here? is this real?” you manage to finally croak out, voice breaking, a rain of tears falling from your lashes into your cheeks. xiao wipes away a stray one, and reassures you “yes, [name] i’m here, we’re all fine, we all made it.” and with that, your knees almost give out, you cling to xiao and cry into his chest, breath coming in short, sobs shaking your whole body. “don’t do anything like this again please! why? why must you put yourself in danger like this? why were you so ready to sacrifice yourself? don’t you ever think about all the people who love and care about you?”

“who could ever love or care for someone like me?”

“i, for one, i love you xiao and i wouldn’t know what to do if anything had happened to you! i love you and i can’t bear the thought of you considering yourself a burden, when you are not! so please, please…” you can’t finish the sentence, a new wave of sobs leaving your throat. xiao guides your head to his chest, where you let out all the fear and stress of the past days. when your cries start to calm, he speaks: “i’m not sure i understand exactly this concept you mortals call love, but what i’m sure of is you are the person i care the most about in this world. and i will protect you, always.”

“but not at the cost of your own life, not now, not ever. you have to promise me.”

and when he looks into those eyes of yours, teary, that look up at him as if he was the infinite and held all the light and colors of every galaxy, he promises, and he knows that, even if you didn’t make a contract, he’ll hold to his word no matter what, because he could never bear the thought of crumbling the heart of the one most dear to him.

after accompanying xiao to the temple of pervases and say your farewells to the traveler and paimon, you notice the exhaustion of all the events on xiao’s face. “let’s get back to wangshu inn, you need rest.” you say, with a gentle smile, tugging at his hand. he looks at your intertwined fingers and silk flower pink blooms on his cheeks; he nods and follows you.

the walk back is mostly quiet, but it’s a comfortable kind of quiet. your hands never separating, his eyes on you when you point out a crystalfly, or a qingxin flower growing by a cliff. in this instant, and remembering the message from ushi that paimon relayed, a little smile graces xiao’s features. he doesn’t know how to describe the feeling exactly, since it’s something he doesn’t remember experiencing before, in his hundreds of years of lifetime, but he knows it’s warm, it surrounds him with a comforting light, and makes his heart beat faster, as if the usual melancholy and dissonant anguish was being replaced by a melody evoking carefree laughter in the air of a summer day, mingling with the sunbeams descending from a sky the color of fresh glaze lilies.

before arriving to the inn, your steps stop in an area surrounded by trees, the last light of day casting shadows in warm tones through their leaves. your connected hands prompt the adeptus to stop too. when he turns his head to look at you, his breath hitches: you’re smiling fondly at him, your eyes twin crescents, and under the mosaic of shadow branches, to him, you are ethereal, a deity who has placed their blessing upon him. “xiao,” your thumb brushing the back of his hand delicately, as if he was the finest of chinas “would you let me do something us mortals do to express love?” your tone a bit timid, as if afraid to disturb the peace of the moment. xiao nods, taking hold of your other hand too. “close your eyes” you whisper next to his ear, and the feeling of your breath on his skin causes butterflies to unleash in his stomach. and the fluttering of their wings only increases when he feels your lips pecking his. he stays still at first, not knowing exactly what he’s supposed to do, but he quickly follows your lead. it’s far from perfect, noses bumping into each other more than once, the giggles you let out making xiao’s heart fly, so bright it could replace the setting sun. when your mouths separate, foreheads resting together, your hands caressing his silky hair, his face flushed, yours feeling warm, the evening wind carries your voice once more “you’re the best that’s ever happened to me, xiao. i love you, i have for a long time and i always will.” and because you understand how hard for him it is to express his feelings through words, you settle for placing the softest kiss to his lips once again, and wrapping your arms around his form, your head in his shoulder. and it’s then, when you feel his head resting atop yours, dark emerald locks slightly tickling your cheek, his arms holding you a bit more tight, close to his chest, where his heart dances to the tune of a symphony composed of birds’ flight, starlight and blossoming flowers.

all works belong to kazu-sun 2022. any editing, modifying, reposting, plagiarizing, translating or claiming as yours is prohibited.

me when

me when people make fanart of shinichiro, mikey and emma together and write 'sano siblings <3' in the caption but izana isnt there

AAAAAH THIS TOOK SO LONG!!!!!!!!!! But it’s done!!!!!!!!! ngl I started thinking about my grandmas when I was painting Yumie n started tearing up a lil :’) 💚💙💚💙

Draken: So Baji are you into cars?

Baji: Yes, it was a truly cinematic masterpiece

Draken: No I meant like, are you car person?

Baji: A transformer?

*Sanzu, trying to log in to his Instagram account*

Instagram: type password

Sanzu: password

Instagram: your password is incorrect

Sanzu: incorrect

Koko, besides him noticing what’s going on:

Koko: sanzu you dumb shit-

flowery conversations - xiao

summary; traveler meets an... interesting character..

genre; comedy, fluff, family fluff, xiao cannot handle you, platonic chaos, traveler can be either lumine or aether, dendro vision reader, zhongli is father i love him, mute! traveler canon <3, angst with traveler lol

[gender neutral reader]

word count; 643

a/n; i sort of just mushed these two requests together if that is okay, reader gender neutral in this

im so sorry that it's taken me so long to get to some more requests. i dont really have much of an excuse other than stress and depression lmao

anything traveler "says", they're just using sign <3

the traveler didn't know how they got in this situation nor did they want to know.

"hello traveler! i heard a lot about you!" you smile brightly at the honored traveler. "i heard you met my brother xiao!"

at that paimon exclaims, "xiao's your brother?!"

"yep! always has been! nothing changed since then! wouldn't say i miss the old times but zhongli was such a crazy father! it was a crazy time for everyone back then." you laughed heartily. "nice to meet you, traveler! were you looking for xiao?"

"yeah. we need to talk to him." they sign to you.

"hm? is that so? he doesn't really like talking to people. you must really be special after all!" you hummed, "let me lead the way then!" you started walking cheerily towards qingyun peak.

the traveler nods in acknowledgement, paimon floating around by their side while they notice the flowers blooming around a bit more brightly than usual. upon another look, they point the dendro vision on your waist. pointing it out, they earn a small smile from you, "yep! that's my vision. i wish i got a geo vision like morax but nonetheless i'm pretty thankful for this one! i can help xiao with it. but i can still kick ass too!" you laughed.

with an nice conversation between you and the two outlanders, you make it to the highest point in liyue. the beautiful view of all of liyue never fails to make you breathless (or maybe it was how high in the air was the reason for your breathlessness). "xiao! you have a visitor! it's me and traveler!" you wave your hand rapidly in excitement upon seeing your brother. you and traveler can hear xiao's heavy sigh before he turns to see you practically vibrating and ready to see xiao interacting with traveler.

it would be the few times you would see xiao willingly talk to someone that wasn't an adepti.

"what is it?" traveler soon explained a message they had gotten from zhongli, who was hoping to see you and xiao in just a few moments. traveler was thankful in knowing that xiao was here which would save themself some time as zhongli would be on his way to qingyun peak.

"dad is on his way here? can't wait to see him!" upon your excitement, anyone can see the spike of growth of plants around your feet. "also look at you xiao making a new friend! i'm so proud!" despite your words sounding so teasing, you meant it all. before xiao could reply with any sass or annoyance, you have your arms wrapped around him in a hug.

traveler can only watch with masked happiness and hidden pain. maybe one day they'll find their sibling.

pushing the thought away, they wave goodbye to you and xiao, you being the one to wave as xiao was stuck in your hold, arms bound to his sides.

bonus;

upon traveler leaving, zhongli had arrived not soon after, seeing the two of you watch the orange sky slowly turn dark.

"it's so pretty.."

"you say that everytime."

"because it's true! i like appreciating beauty!" a deep chuckle stops an upcoming argument. you gasp, quickly running over to zhongli and engulfing him in a hug, "dad! i missed you! xiao was bullying me!" you point at xiao, who merely stands there unimpressed with your accusation. zhongli hugs back, patting your head.

"i don't think that's quite the case there, dear. but shall i scold xiao for you?" he asked, amusement swimming in his eyes as your pleading ones meet them. you nodded before laughing.

"yes yes! you hear that xiao? dad is gonna scold you!" xiao can only sigh upon being teamed up by you and zhongli. the flowers bloomed a bit brighter as your laughter rings out in the night.

I’d imagine that if you asked San for an Umbrella, he’d bring over Wooyoung and be like “Woosan?” and then laugh at his own joke.