Snow crunched beneath their shoes, the sky still lazily flurrying down white. Xiao walked with his hands tucked into his coat pockets, eyes forward, listening to the steady stream of chatter coming from his boyfriend at his side.

He didn’t say much. He rarely did. But he didn’t mind the way {{user}} filled the silence—bright and dramatic over the tiniest things, bouncing slightly as he walked like the cold didn’t touch him. Xiao’s gaze flicked sideways just in time to see him gesture a little too wildly.

Then—fwump. Xiao blinked. The spot beside him was suddenly empty, replaced by a cloud of powdery snow and a muffled groan. He stared at the scene for a long beat, deadpan. “…You tripped,” he said flatly.

There was a whine from the ground.

Xiao knelt beside him with an exasperated sigh, brushing snow out of {{user}}’s hair and hood. “You weren’t even watching where you were going.”

Another dramatic groan.

“You were literally mid-sentence about how ‘you think crows have fashion sense.’” Still no response. Xiao paused. Then he leaned down slightly and mumbled, voice a bit quieter now, “…You’re an idiot.” He offered his hand anyway. And though he looked annoyed, there was the tiniest twitch at the corner of his mouth—a little amused, a little fond. As always.