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litfever · 9 months

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❧ fic masterlist

welcome! here are my fics.

i post them on ao3 under the pseudonym daintyfleur and i mostly write modern/college aus about ittosara and huxiao from the video game genshin impact. this list will be organized chronologically.

genshin impact

love makes mockeries of men

pairing: hu tao/xiao | alatus date published: 2021-04-17 word count: 948 rating: teen and up summary: love makes mockeries of men (but, just this once, he'll allow it)

only the moon could love the sun (the way i love you)

pairing: hu tao/xiao | alatus date published: 2021-05-22 word count: 337 rating: general audiences summary: he makes her soft—unbelievably so.

keep your friends close (and people who are terrible for your rationality closer)

pairing: kaeya/rosaria date published: 2021-06-05 word count: 411 rating: teen and up summary: "You're welcome, Rosaria darling." She will murder this man.

abstruse (see also: my love for you)

pairing: hu tao/xiao | alatus date published: 2021-06-11 word count: 4,060 rating: teen and up summary: A chuckle rises in her chest. She can feel the way it reverberates inside of her, warming her as his kiss has.

unwavering devotion (decidedly so)

pairing: hu tao/xiao | alatus date published: 2021-07-08 word count: 732 rating: teen and up summary: Xiao swears time stops when Hu Tao’s lips meet his.

when we meet again (infallibly)

pairing: hu tao/xiao | alatus date published: 2021-07-11 word count: 3,801 rating: teen and up summary: The air whistles an eerie tune. She laughs a nervous laugh and turns around slowly, placing her hands behind her head because she didn’t know what to do with them. A spark of recognition ignites in her brain. She curses herself out, it was a day of bad decisions (and apparently bad thoughts), and it might cost her her life.

my heart is a canvas (free for you to paint with the colors of your affection)

pairing: kamisato ayaka/thoma date published: 2021-08-04 word count: 2,317 rating: teen and up summary: You see, art as an elective course seemed like a good idea five months ago.

the rain drew daggers on my skin (and you held me as i wept in pain)

pairing: kaedehara kazuha & yoimiya, kazuha/yoimiya date published: 2021-08-09 word count: 751 rating: general audiences summary: The rain has always been relentless in Inazuma.

underneath the stars (but somehow, on top of the world)

pairing: albedo/sucrose date published: 2021-08-29 word count: 2,090 rating: general audiences summary: In the list of all the things that she would never expect to happen, Albedo Kreideprinz picking her up out of the blue was probably at number one.

sorry, i'm a little chai

pairing: hu tao/xiao | alatus date published: 2021-09-28 word count: 734 rating: teen and up summary: He stores away that little bit into his memory, for what? He’s not sure. It isn’t like they’ll ever see each other again.

tolerated (only by you)

pairing: arataki itto/kujou sara date published: 2021-10-13 word count: 10,253 rating: teen and up summary: “I’m going to wipe the floor with you.” Please do, his inner voice said.

beginning, middle, end

pairing: arataki itto/kujou sara date published: 2022-07-01 word count: 15,775 rating: teen and up summary: Itto and Sara are rival editors who have to co-edit a book.

it drives you crazy, getting old

pairing: arataki itto/kujou sara date published: 2022-10-11 word count: 2,910 rating: teen and up summary: Itto, Sara, and the stars. The stars, Sara, and Itto.

daylight

pairing: arataki itto/kujou sara date published: 2023-06-07 chapter count: 3/3 word count: 13,270 rating: mature summary: She’s right. She usually is. It would have ended the same.

here is my heart (i know you can stomach it)

pairing: arataki itto/kujou sara date published: 2023-07-08 word count: 4,059 rating: general audiences summary: She is Sara Kujou, and she is seventeen and sparkling, and starting the rest of her life.

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dreaming-hibi · 10 months

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Take me dancing and don't let go, oh mighty yaksha Huxiao week 2023 | July 14th - Dancing

✿ 1k+ words ✿ Tags: Fluff, FLUFF, SO MUCH FLUFF ✿ Featuring: Xiao being angsty and awkward, Hu Tao trying to get herself a man, slow dancing to the point they're waltzing

Hu Tao climbed the steep steps of the Wangshu Inn, the face of a woman on a mission discouraging most guests from approaching her. She was on an invitation-quest, and she wouldn't be taking no for an answer.

“Come to the dance festival with—”

“I will not go."

Xiao refused, an immovable mountain before the strong winds of Hu Tao's nonsensical request. Unfortunately for him, not even death—10% off on singles' funerals!—could save him.

Nestled within the peace of Dihua Marsh and built upon a single massive stone pillar was Wangshu Inn, a popular rendezvous point for lovers — and travelers, for even lonesome souls came and went from this place. Hu Tao, director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, was such a person, a lonesome soul who came and went.

Not for lack of trying! she chided herself on the disheartening thoughts clouding her heart. However, such thoughts weren’t too far from the truth and she, truly, was a lonesome soul as she scaled the stairs to the inn. Hu Tao had been on this impossible quest known as “Romancing the last yaksha, Xiao, the unconquerable” since Lantern Rite and it was now almost her birthday, and she had yet to see a single glimmer of hope.

“Aiya, you silly yaksha.” Hu Tao gave a deep sigh as she came to a stop on the stairs. A poem came to mind as she stood there, her figure a minuscule existence among the thousands that must have surely walked up these same steps, heart heavier and less wiser.

While I lean against the banister of a tall tower, The breeze gently blows. As I look into the distance, The end of Spring arouses melancholy in my mind. Surrounded by dewy grass at sunset, I wonder who is able to understand my longing. I would rather drink to intoxication. One should sing when one has wine in hand, But drinking to escape offers no reprieve. I do not mind that my clothes are getting looser. My lover is worthy of desire.

—Butterfly in love with flowers by Liu Yong

Her grandfather, Old Hu, was a strict yet loving man. His personal room overflowed with knowledge Hu Tao had been excited to devour as a kid, and among those many books stood out the wrinkled notebooks on love poems. To think her wise and old grandfather would be an avid enjoyer of romantic writing, a younger Hu Tao had been too intrigued to leave even those books untouched.

Among those flowery poems, she had been quite taken with one known as Butterflies in love with flowers. Although her grandfather’s collection had an excessive amount of tragic romances—she suspected it had much to do with her grandmother’s fate—this particular poem had appeared the least depressing in her young eyes.

A woman who had such strong feelings she could only think of her lover, the only one worthy of being loved and desired. She would be much older when she finally understood the melancholic longing behind the poem. Now, as an adult woman longing for what was, realistically, a hopeless love, Hu Tao felt a camaraderie of sorts with the woman from the writing.

“Now, Hu Tao, that’s enough introspection,” she said, beginning to walk anew. “This is like fighting, it’s just a means to an end. You struggle now to end up happily dating a dashing yaksha, that’s it.”

Positively brimming with confidence, Hu Tao took the steps two at a time, arriving at the uppermost floor of Wangshu Inn, where most guests dared not set foot on.

“Conqueror of Demons!”

Well, she wasn’t most guests.

“Hero of Dihua Marsh!” she whirled around on the terrace as she waited for a response, both her tone and smile merry as could be as she suddenly thought up one ridiculously, glorious epithet to call out. “Mister Most Handsome Yak—”

“How many times must I tell you to not disturb the peace?”

“Hehe! You came!”

Xiao, expectedly, radiated annoyance from top to bottom but, even then, he made no move to teleport away. As exasperated as he was with her gesture, Xiao was always willing to listen to her every request — whether he went along with them was another story altogether.

“Actually, there will be a dance festival in Liyue—”

“I will not go.”

Hu Tao laughed, she knew it, but her battle was far from over and she had yet to admit defeat. “That’s not it, adeptus Xiao.”

Xiao raised an eyebrow, as though silently asking her: If that’s not it, then what is it? What else could it be? And he wasn’t exactly wrong, past Lantern Rite invitation considered, but she was aiming for something far more gratifying than having Xiao dance in front of the whole of Liyue.

“In consideration of your many years of living—those 50% off coupons for a funeral are still on the table by the way!—I thought to myself: Xiao must know how to dance, I should be asking him to be my dance teacher.”

“I do not have much knowledge on such a worthless activity.”

“My, don’t say it like that.” For the most part, Hu Tao was already aware of this fact, how could she not considering how much of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s history was tied to the yakshas. She hadn’t come here hoping to be taught some dance steps by Xiao, but Xiao didn’t have to know this.

Xiao stood his ground by remaining quiet, he really didn’t know what was coming for him.

“Oya? Oya oya!” Hu Tao cheered with the face of someone who happened to have just had the most brilliant of ideas, which was, technically, a lie. “Then, will you be my practice partner?”

Xiao uncrossed his arms as he turned to give Hu Tao a look of authentic confusion, “I believe I said I have no knowledge of... dancing.”

“But you’re quick on your feet right?”

Reluctantly, oh so reluctantly, Xiao nodded. Something about his expression told Hu Tao everything she wanted to know: he couldn’t find a polite way to reject her request, without outright teleporting away.

“Then it’s perfect! I won’t have to worry about stepping on your feet!”

“Huh...?”

❀❁❀⋆❀❁❀⋆❀❁❀⋆❀❁❀❀❁❀⋆❀❁❀⋆❀❁❀⋆❀❁❀❀❁❀⋆❀❁❀

Having shed his armor and mask, Xiao thought he might as well be standing unclothed before Hu Tao. His hands—bare and unthreatening as the rest of himself—itched for the comfort and familiarity of his polearm, which he had never been bereft of since he had first held onto it.

Hu Tao’s hand—in his—was soft and warm, a hand that had never seen war or cruelty. Her hands weren’t calloused from grasping a weapon from sun to moon, never letting go even when sleep came knocking. Her waist—under his tainted hand—was slender and fragile, to the point he dared not let himself apply any more pressure than he was already doing, too afraid he might break her.

“Hu Tao—”

“Aiya, how are you so good at this?” giggled Hu Tao, her foot coming dangerously close to stepping on his, again. She had been right: he was quick on his feet.

“How is your dancing still so appalling?”

Wilfully and unrepentantly stepping on his foot—Xiao should have seen that coming, that too was karma—Hu Tao maturely stuck her tongue out at him but, even then, their dancing continued undisturbed, as though they were two pieces finally falling into place, together, where they belonged.

Xiao forced himself to banish such ludicrous thoughts from his mind. They were two separate beings, they did not belong together in any way or form and he should know better than to be conjuring wistful dreams of closeness with a mortal.

For as sweet and alluring as they were, dreams were not meant to be within the reach of tools for massacre like him.

“Hu Tao—”

“No.”

Xiao sighed, suddenly tired, “Hu Tao.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Let’s stop.”

“I don’t want to,” she said, stubbornly taking the lead of the dance. Xiao took a few minutes to be surprised by her exceptional leading skills, she could be dancing any human into infatuation if she applied herself — however, the mere thought of such a thing happening irritated him into eating the compliment he had been ready to give.

Xiao sighed again, even he could admit his thoughts weren’t making much sense. He wanted her to go, but he didn’t want to let go, Could this emotion be...?

Hand to hand, hand to waist, they danced together under the first twinkling stars of the night, amid the loud notes of some unknown song and the quiet murmurs of the inn settling down for the day.

“I lied,” Hu Tao admitted, her voice barely rising above the music. Her cheeks were the color of pyro slimes. “I know how to dance, I don’t need to practice.”

“I knew it.”

Hu Tao raised her head, nearly knocking it into his jaw; her eyes were wide in shock and yet, they searched his for an answer he wasn’t willing to give, but which he would be giving away nonetheless. He felt bound to be as honest as her, though his heart wasn’t anywhere near ready for such vulnerability.

Time waited for no one.

“I feigned ignorance for the same reason as you.”

His eyes, which couldn’t commit themselves to staring at one specific spot for a while, slowly came to meet Hu Tao’s brilliant ones when he noticed their gentle, unconscious swaying had come to a natural end.

“I like you,” and she leaned up to place a noisy and dry kiss on his lips, thawing the cold nervousness that had taken a firm grip on his body since the time of his confession. Xiao, like the fool he felt and was, melted like a cryo slime in her devious, soft and fiery hands.

“This does not change how I am not going to your dance festival.”

“Booo! How stingy, oh mighty yaksha.”

#huxiaoweek2023 #huxiao #huxiao fanfic #huxiao fanfiction #hu tao x xiao #hu tao #xiao #xiaotao #ao3fic #ao3fanfic #genshin fluff

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