#mktachi

preview:

“I should,” Barbatos begins, tongue swiping across his lips, “probably explain myself.”

His words hang in the still air, heavy with centuries worth of silence. Barbatos’ gaze drops to his flute, bashful or thoughtful Xiao can’t ascertain, so hidden is Barbatos’ expression by the curtain of his dark lashes, the shadows of the full qingxin flowers.

“I thought you wouldn’t want to talk," Barbatos says.

Fiercely, Xiao blinks.

“I,” he swallows, unsure, even now, how to say it. But then Barbatos is peeking up from behind his lashes, and a smile begins to bloom, growing ever large the longer Xiao stares and stares.

Nothing comes easy, Xiao knows, but some things are worth the blood and pain. Xiao has tasted blood, but he’s also tasted sweetness. Not everything must be dust. Xiao breathes, and sees Barbatos’ hair flutter.

He’s had hundreds of years to learn how to say these words. They may come tumbling out, bitten off at the edges, but they are his words. They are his heart, brittle as it is.

If he must start somewhere, then fine, let it start here, with blood.

“I want,” Xiao grits out, “to talk to you.”

Miraculously, Barbatos lights up. His eyes gleam in the night. “Even after all this time?”