so you know how you're meant to be writing a fic centered around a certain thing but you get too distracted writing your poor little meow meows being gay to get on with that? yeah
"Xiaooo!"
The Yaksha in question appears in a burst of power tinted with teal. A frown pulls at his lips when he sees the lack of danger Childe seems to be in, yet he's not entirely sure what else he'd expected. Of course Childe wanted to waste his time. What else does that dumb Fatui have to do?
"Oh, there you are!" Childe reaches to lay his hand on Xiao's shoulder, but the shorter backs away before he gets to fully raise his hand. Childe, of course, doesn't take it personally and returns his hand back to it's place on his hip. Sure, it's settled now that they're... doing something that can maybe be referred loosely to as 'dating', but Childe knows how sensitive Xiao can be to unexpected contact.
"Are you free, by any chance?" Xiao begins to respond with a resounding "No," but Childe cuts him off before he can do so. "If so, I need to practice with my polearm today! Care to join me?"
The ginger looks at Xiao for a moment, just to study his features. His expression seems uncertain and his arms are drawn tight to his chest, crossed and closing himself off to Childe. He prepares himself for the strong decline he's about to receive and starts thinking about other ways he can persuade Xiao into going along with him.
Mm... He's already made plenty of almond tofu, enough to last Xiao a life-time, but he feels like that approach might be getting old. Sure, bribery is always a good way to get what you want, but Childe wants to do something fun next time. Maybe he could-
"Fine. But I won't stay long."
Childe resists the urge to grab Xiao and twirl him in the air. He thinks this might be the first ever time Xiao's agreed to do something with him without hours of persuasion!
"Ah! Has my charm finally gotten to you, Xiao?"
"Don't push it. Let's go."
... ◇ 》
Childe wipes the sweat off of his brow and drops his polearm.
"Alright, alright! Let's... Hah... Wrap this up for today." He says. He rests with his hands on his knees, panting loud enough to disturb the stray cats in the field into leaving. He falls back, laying on the cool, refreshing grass with an arm over his eyes to block the sun.
But he never hears the 'whoosh' of Xiao teleporting away. Instead, he hears the grass next to him rustle for a moment before it goes quiet.
Cracking an eye open, he sees that Xiao is sitting beside him. Leaning back on his arms, his golden eyes stare into Childe's for a moment before he turns his gaze to the sight in front of him. If Childe didn't know better, he'd say that Xiao is blushing a little bit. If Childe had known all it took to make Xiao blush was eye contact, he would've made use of that a while ago.
"Soo," Childe grins, sitting up as well. "How'd I do, boss?"
Xiao doesn't even turn to look at him. "I continue to tell you that you cannot brute force your way into every fight, but you continue to do so anyway."
"Hey, it works for me-!"
"Did I say I was done talking? You need to think during battle no matter how hard that may be for you. However... You did seem a little distracted this time around, which is idiotic." During those last words, Childe swears Xiao's eyes shine with an almost teasing glint.
He knows what Xiao means by 'distracted.' He knows that Xiao noticed he'd been too distracted admiring the graceful way Xiao moved to focus entirely on fighting, and he's teasing him for it.
"You-! Now who told you you're allowed to do that?" He reaches for Xiao's arm, maybe just to give him a light smack for making fun of him, but his wrist is caught in Xiao's iron grip. He doesn't let go.
"I fail to see what it is you think I'm doing."
What a bastard! Grinning, Childe wrestles his arm out of Xiao's grip and pushes him by the chest into laying down. For a moment, Xiao attempts to shove Childe himself, but he also fails to see that Childe can be just as nimble as himself and is quickly settled between Xiao's legs with both his wrists pinned beside his head.
The Yaksha squints and gives a guttural growl, but Childe doesn't miss the subtle upward twitch of his lips. "What are you trying to prove here?"
Childe chuckles and leans in. He can almost feel Xiao's breath on his own lips. "I just wanted to make sure you know you shouldn't tease me."
The closeness makes the both of them flush, but neither comments on it.
After a beat, Childe is about to pull away, but Xiao, sweet, wonderful, perfect Xiao kisses him. The sudden feeling makes butterflies and what feels like exploding sunshine burst in Childe's stomach and he smiles into the kiss.
He releases Xiao's wrists and drags his hands lower to his waist and he finds that his hands fit his small waist perfectly.
Xiao's lips are dry, but not chapped- He's not even sure of the state of his own, but he can't say he cares. Not when Xiao's arms are snaking around his neck and his lips are parting, yet painfully slowly-
"Ah! D-Don't-"
Suddenly, they've parted. Childe doesn't have time to mourn the loss of the kiss because he's too busy scanning over Xiao's body, trying to understand what could've caused that reaction. "Oh, love, did I hurt you? What happened? I'm so sorry, oh-"
But Xiao's smiling. It's a beautiful thing. His peachy lips are parted in a wide, wobbling grin and unnaturally pointed canines shine at Childe, which, wow. His own smaller, gloved hand rests atop Childe's, idle on his waist.
Wait...
Oh.
Oh.
"You're ticklish!"
"No, Childe. Do not-"
Childe pins Xiao to the ground again, but with different intentions this time. Before Xiao can protest, Childe's nimble fingers are already gliding up and down his side. The thin shirt he wears does nothing to protect him from the electric sensation, yet he bites his lip and hides his face in his shoulder anyway.
"Oh, come on love, don't do that!" Without warning, Childe digs his fingers into Xiao's poor stomach. He vibrates his fingers just slightly and Xiao squeals.
The dam has broken, and there is no repairing it. Adorable, poorly held back giggles fall from Xiao's lips and oh, Childe thinks he might be in love. His hand falls from it's place pinning Xiao to join his other hand in massaging his fingers into Xiao's stomach.
"A-aha- Stop!! Nnh- I'm... Nohot- Ahh..!!" He really does try to hold it back, but bouncy, high-pitched squeals and giggles fall from his lips like a river. He pushes at Childe's hands with his own, but he finds that he's already been too weakened for that to mean anything.
"Don't tell me... Were you about to say you're not ticklish?" The wolfish grin plastered to the Harbinger's face makes Xiao want to throw him out a window. "You wouldn't lie to me like that, would you Xiao?"
Childe's teasing is punctuated by squeezes to the grooves of Xiao's hips, followed by an unbearable scribbling up his sides to his ribs.
Xiao arches his back, but this just sends him further into Childe's hands and Archons, he needs this to stop. His arms feel like jelly and his face must be flushed and his hips turn and twist with every flutter of Childe's tickling fingers and he just cannot take this, he swears it.
Childe's fingers scribble in the spaces between his ribs and he shrieks. "Noohoho! I-I cahahan't-!! Ah! Stohop, I cahan't take ihit-"
"Oh, really?" Childe leans closer to Xiao and stills his hands. His rests them on his waist, but he makes sure to keep his thumbs lightly gliding over the surface, just to keep him on his toes. "Liyue's all-mighty Yaksha? Tough, resilient Xiao? Darling, you can't take a little tickling?"
Still involuntarily grinning, Xiao tries his very best to block off the remaining giggles while he pushes Childe's stupid face away from him.
He fails, though. Childe's damn hands are still tickling him and he hates this, really. He does.
"I just want to let you know you've had free movement for a while." Childe presses a gentle, soft kiss to Xiao's cheek. It doesn't match his sadistic tone of voice. "You could've moved at any time. You like this, don't you?"
Xiao doesn't move. He just glares. Any effect it might have had dissipates under his precious grin.
Notes: references to past Xiao/Zhongli relationship, references to Childe/Zhongli (nothing explicit) ; sort of explicit decription of sexual acts between chixiao
chinese gaodian糕点/dianxin点心/xiaochi小吃 (desserts or savory snacks made with fruits, vegetables, nuts, meat stuffing, tofu, all kinds of flour like cornstarch, wheat, rice, glutinous rice, millet, potatoes, etc) cr 杂食小记
01. Flatbread in mutton soup (yangrou paomo) – Yangrou paomo is the mosticonic dish in the Xi’an foolscap. The ritual before eating a paomo – tearing the bread into small pieces yourself before letting the chef turn it into a stew– is as enjoyable as the dish itself.
02. Xian meat burger (roujiamo) – Roujiamo is the city’s favorite burger. A delicious roujiamo is composed of two key elements – juicy shredded braised pork and a crispy baked bread.
03. Cold noodles (liangpi) – Rice noodles are cooked, cooled and thinly sliced. The noodles are often served in a sauce made of chili oil, pepper powder, vinegar and diced garlic. Then it’s garnished with bean sprouts and sliced cucumber.
04. Biangbiang noodles – commonly described as resembling a belt, biangbiang noodles are wide, thick and long. One string of noodles can easily fill you up.
05. Hot and sour soup dumpling (suantang shuijiao) – Who can resist a bowl of dumplings swimming in hot and sour soup with sesame seeds , minced leek and cilantro? Suantang shuijiao is flavorful and refreshing with a lingering (and pleasant) aftertaste.
06. Steamed beef and wheat powder (fenzhengrou) – This unassuming-looking dish packs 23 herbs, spices and seasonings into one serving and requires seven hours to cook.
07. Kabob (chuan’er) coated with chili and cumin power, it’s a highlyaddictive midnight snack for Xi’an residents. It’s not unusual for locals to order 100 of them in one go.
08. Pomegranate juice – Pomegranates are a local specialty product. Pomegranate juice stands pop up around town every fall.
09. Glutinous rice and date cake (zenggao) – Cooked overnight in a zeng – a traditional earthen utensil– most vendors only prepare one batch of zenggao (glutinous rice and date layered cake) a day.
10. Soup dumpling (tangbao) – Shanghai’s xiaolongbao? Wrong. It is Xi’an’s own version of soup dumplings. Instead of pork, tangbao in Xi’an is mutton meat and soup packed into a paper-thin wrapper.
