A/N: i did the otp generator and the prompt was: hu tao telling xiao a story but xiao isn't paying attention at all because they're too busy thinking about what a cutie hu tao is.
but then i tweaked it a bit ahah
xiao doesn't remember how hu tao roped her into going to dragonspine with her (in truth, he doesn't really know how hu tao ropes him into doing anything with her, really) but there they are, dressed in thick coats, their shoes crunching against snow as they moved farther up the mountain.
the pyro vision-wielder was telling him a story as they trudged up the mountain; something about her and xingqiu pranking chongyun the other day. her arms swing animatedly as she talks.
if the yaksha was being honest, he stopped listening to her awhile ago. he could care less about mortal affairs. but her animated voice, especially in this barren cold, soothes his soul. in a place where it was so easy to get lost in loneliness, he was especially thankful for having the company of liyue's most lively funeral parlor director.
"xiao?" hu tao's voice catches him in unawares and his golden hues move to look at the mortal in front of him, her upper half twisted to look back at him. her brows crease a little. cute, he thinks.
"are you okay? you're being super quiet. like, even more quiet than usual."
the yaksha shakes his head.
"pay me no mind. come on. let us go before we freeze to death."
he trudged on ahead of her, but not before offering his hand to wangsheng funeral parlor's seventy-seventh director. hu tao beamed and took his hand.
and xiao thinks to himself, maybe dragonspine isn't so bad after all. as long as he's with the lively mortal.
