#wanna know a secret? before you i would have NEVER considered writing xxc ♥

[mythvoiced]

@s4ray | ♥

Xiao Xingchen is no foe of compliments. He advocates for praise to be a much better motivator, for words and reprimands to be a better teacher than mindless punishment - though he has been wrong before.

A person taken with gentleness, taught that improving, growing can and should only be associated with warmth, pleasure, a sense of pride, confidence, self-fulfillment, Xiao Xingchen will never understand an alternative when the benefit of the doubt has saved a lot more from the wrong path than cutting their hands off has - though he has been wrong before.

He's no stranger to compliments, as such. The praise of Baoshan Sanren had motivated him to keep training, after all, taught him justice, made of him a Daoist on a path even the darkness surrounding every aspect of his life in one way or another, can't make him stray from.

But... there are compliments, and then there are compliments.

Xiao Xingchen isn't a maiden. His appearance, his soft laughter, his even softer footfall, his penchant for kindness, it's easy to create an impression of a different man than the on he is... alas, his companion's words don't make him blush and hush.

But they do make him perk up.

There are only so many times he can be called all sorts of variations of 'beautiful' before Xiao Xingchen tilts his head, the pleased, gently amused smile maintaining its position on the canvas his companion had so meticulously and yet so easily worked to paint.

Smiling and laughing used to not come so easily. Now it seems easier than warming up to the thought of this potentially ending one day.

"Ah," an apologetic, but not meek tone wrapped around a single sound. "You know I'm no good with stories," he would, right? What odd kind of warmth, the warmth of knowing someone knows you. "At least not as good as you are at telling them."

The slightly off-kilter footfall, an injury to a leg not quite healed. Xiao Xingchen has memorized the way his companion walks, once upon a time because it was easier to precede him rather than burden someone with arranging themselves in a way that wouldn't startle him - because he liked his independence - and now... now it's a habit.

Now it's something to look forward to.

"Nor am I as good with words in general, as you are," his head moves at the slightest change, the slightest curve is accompanied by Xiao Xingchen's head adjusting to best capture it, a moon-pale beauty listening intently for the footsteps of a man he'll never truly know.

Though he has been wrong before.

"Nor particularly equipped to praise your looks as you seem keen on praising mine," and the corners of his lips sharpen ever so slightly.

His demeanour and the way he moves, some associating more years to his name than there are and assuming him an immortal deity has not been as rare an occurrence as he'd like it to be.

At the end of the day, though, he's not even quite 30 yet. At the end of the day, even he can tease.

"I'm sorry about the rabbit," he could hear how far away it was, "let me help carry those you've already caught. I insist."