Chapter Text
Chapter II: Eridanus
Floating Away
Sleeping wasn’t a bad thing.
In fact, Caelus absolutely loved sleeping because he could dream as much as he wanted without someone interrupting. Most times, that is.
He could forgive being woken up for breakfast. After all, there is no one in Mondstadt who cooked better than Adelinde and breakfast was a family affair. Absolute fun while he watched Papa try to wake up, dozing away at the table, while Daddy piled snowflakes atop his hand to see how many he could make before they melted when Papa woke up. Adelinde scolding them for bickering at the table while Elzer laughed behind his teacup, sneaking Caelus one more slice of sunsettia jam toast.
He loved breakfast, but he didn’t so much like being roused out of a daydream by a tutor, or nightmares lurching him out of a sound sleep and into a mad dash down the hall to his parents’ bedroom. The problem with sleep lied in the sheer number of hours between closing his eyes and morning - time better spent playing, exploring, and well… awake!
Although his fathers insisted there was precious little to look forward to when the sun went down, Caelus remained skeptical.
After all, if there was nothing to do then why did Papa work late and why did Daddy do knight stuff when it’s dark outside? Obviously, there was a much bigger secret going on, and Caelus swore he would get to the bottom of it —
A yawn worked its way between the seam of his pouting lips, mouth tucked lightly against the cool, soft silk of his papa’s shirt. With how warm his papa’s skin was, it was difficult to find a cold spot to rest his head but gentle frosty waves rolling off his daddy nipped at his nose. The combination of temperatures made it really hard to keep his eyes open, and he felt like he was melting into a pleasant dozing haze.
“Tired?” Papa asked him, voice deep and rumbly, like smoking wood cracking in the hearth.
Caelus exhaled in a huff when he heard his daddy laugh, a dark shadow falling over his eyes as cold slender fingers combed his hair back from his eyes. He squinted, peeping up from beneath the shade of a leatherbound wrist at a lilac blue eye fondly crinkled at its corner.
“Seems after your little escape earlier, you must have finally used the last of your energy, hm?”
He felt his ears growing warm and squeezed his knees against his papa’s sides when he felt his shoulders tremble with laughter. He almost wanted to smile too. He liked how kind his daddy’s eye looked and how gentle and soft his voice was. When he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine it wrapping around him like the fluffy cloak he wore when he worked.
Flopping his head to the other side, he tucked his nose against the side of his papa’s neck where scarlet red hair tickled the tip of his nose. It smelled nice. Like the ashes Moco and Hillie told him not to touch as they swept out the fireplace to place fresh logs. He wondered why they giggled when he said it smelt like his papa.
After all, it made perfect sense.
His papa smelt like the woods, fire, smoke, and everything that was warm.
While his daddy was sweet, and flowery, he couldn’t quite make sense of what he smelt like but it made him feel safe like when his arms were around him. His head felt a little heavier with his daddy’s fingers combing through his hair and his papa patting his back. Hot and cold joining together to make his dreams soupy and hazy, sweet and smoky, safe and warm.
Somewhere above him, he could hear his daddy singing, “Moon dust in your lungs, stars in your eyes. You are a child of the cosmos; a ruler of the skies.”
A smile twitched at Caelus’ lips as he sighed, loosening his hold and letting himself float away into the sky.
He would figure out the secret…
… on another night.