#please send tips

XIAO longs for a day to come when he will wear the mask and dance. One where he can dance not to conquer demons. But to dance to the tune of the flute in a field of flowers. A dance where he can forget the blood that has stained his hands, A moment where he can pretend he is not the reason why deities fell.

The last yakasha has resigned to accept his fate. A fate where he must forever punish himself. One where every moment of silence is filled with the voices of the dead souls he had wrongly put asleep. A life where he willingly subjects himself to the duty of punishing evil while others slept without reward. He has regarded himself as a curse, a bad omen, A being who does not deserve the warmth of any light.

Yet, it seems like Celestia decided to have mercy on his unworthy soul.

"Guess who?~"

The mercy of the heavens came in the form of a mortal who decided that befriending the most reserved adepti was the better thing to do instead of begging for mercy because of disturbing said edgy adepti.

"I have no time for these games."

"Your no fun, Xiao!!" (Y/N) whined, dragging out the last letter of his name as they took off their hands and sat down beside the short male. Xiao merely grunts at their response, opting to continue staring down at whatever passes by below from the railings of the Wangshu inn balcony. Pouting at the male ignoring them, (Y/N) grabs the Qingxin flowers they brought using their inventory bag and plucks some petals from one flower to shower the short male in petals.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"Showering you in love, affection, and flowers.~"

"It's just petals."

Smiling at the bluntness of the teal-haired male, they gently disregard the remaining flowers to hoist themselves up and offer their hand to the yakasha. Xiao, looking at the outstretched hand like it's a threat, says something along the lines of "mortals being strange" in a monotone voice and disregards the hand offered but stands up nonetheless.

"You were supposed to grab my hand, like one of those cheesy fanfictions that Xingqiu reads."

(Y/N) says, faking disappointment and acting like something heart-wrenchingly tragic just been unjustly done to them. The Adeptus, already familiar with their actions, gives a deadpan glare to the person in front of him and quietly sighs. Of course, (Y/N), being the ever so confident, debatably idiotic human that they are, Takes advantage of the yakasha's tiredness of their actions to grab his hand to pull him closer to them.

Xiao seems to have none of that and goes to pull away til' he looks up to see the genuineness in their partner's eyes. To pull away now would be like kicking a wet puppy that trusted you. Even a cold-hearted Adeptus would not do such a thing out of his own want. Opening his mouth to question what is the person in front of him planning, he was quickly hushed before he can even get a word out. Enraged and exasperated at the audacity of this mortal, Xiao glared at (Y/N) until' he noticed how they were slowly trying to get him to sway to a distant sound of the flute.

"You are always dancing along to the sound of another being's retribution."

One-step and sway forward,

"But for this moment... do forgive me for my disrespectful actions,"

Two steps to the left and back,

"And grant my wish, of wanting to dance with you,"

One step to the right,

"It may not be one with the audience of the archons, but it is one I wish to participate in with you."

Circle around each other as you move across the floor.