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“What foolishness should I expect from you today, Traveler?”
Xiao watched as Aether sat at the crafting bench, pouring over his notes and making sure that he had everything. It hadn’t been a very pleasant day for the yaksha; between the screams of the damned and his own self loathing, he wasn’t in the best of moods. Plus, he’d had nightmares all night, and was beaten and bruised from his battle. And yet, despite his weariness and snappy attitude, Aether had been plenty patient with him.
Aether sent him a playful glare, though his poorly concealed grin stated that there was a bigger scheme at play. “For one, I don’t think it’s foolish—”
“—You never do.”
“Second, I think you’ll like this one a lot.”
“I shall have to be the judge of that.”
Paimon snickered, and Aether sent her a look. It was obvious that the two had been conspiring, since Paimon was always sending Xiao an overly happy smile as of late. And Aether had been in a rather uppity mood, as well. His smile knew no bounds, and it surely didn’t stop at the yaksha’s heart. It only been about two months since Xiao had accepted a contract with Aether known as “dating”. He was… still getting used to it.
But there was no denying it at this point. Even with his horrible, sinned past, calloused hands and scarred body, Aether’s acceptance had brought a new life to Xiao. Aether was neither human nor illuminated beast, but knew the timeless struggles that Xiao had endured. And because of this, the yaksha found that every barrier he had put up, every wall, trench, trap and mound, Aether has scaled and destroyed. So, even though he wasn’t in the best of moods right now, he couldn’t just deny Aether’s summons, either.
Aether finally got all the tools together that he needed, and the crafting bench lit up with the energy known as alchemy. In place of the materials was something that Xiao was not expecting: a tea pot. But he recognized this. As a thank you for helping out the whole of Liyue, the adepti had come together to give Aether and Paimon a consistent place to rest. Though they were revered throughout Liyue and Mondstadt, they, like Xiao, never had a place to stay. Camping it out in the wilderness was fairly common for them. So, they all decided to give them an adeptal realm, one similar to Madam Ping’s.
When Aether was finished, he promptly put the teapot in his inventory, grinning at Xiao with a rather excited look on his face. “C’mon! Let’s get out of Liyue. There’s something I want to show you.”
Moved by his piqued curiosity, Xiao sighed, as he had no choice to follow the traveler.
Aether and Paimon had lead him to the place where they had watched the Lantern Rite. The portal just on the edge of Liyue Harbor, overlooking the distant hustle and bustle of activity. Though they didn’t interact with anyone, Xiao had always felt so out of place there. Aether’s presence had made it… bareable at best, but he still couldn’t help the sigh of relief he gave after exiting the gates. It was just a little too much stimulation for the day.
“Here we go!” Paimon chirped, floating over to a more concealed cliff by the portal. Same area, but blocked off by rocks to that people wouldn’t easily wander over. As the sun started to set, people wandered from work and to home, smiling with the faces of loved ones. In a way, Xiao figured that he was doing this with Aether right now. A rough day at work, to come home to his loved one.
As if on cue, Aether pulled out the teapot and set it down in a place that no one would be able to see. He looked over to Xiao, laughing at the puzzled look he gave him. “I wanted to show you what I’ve done with the place. It’s only fair that one of the adepti that gave this to me saw it too.”
Damn it. Xiao couldn’t deny that one. He noticed quickly that the air had changed, that Aether’s energy had shifted. He seemed… eagerly nervous. Xiao studied the pot, wondering why such a thing would give Aether so much anxiety, and why Paimon was silently beaming from the side. He’ll like it, don’t worry! he thought he heard the fairy tell Aether. Xiao figured they didn’t realize how good his hearing was, but he decided to not show that on his face. Aether fidgeted with a piece of cloth, averting his gaze.
“I-I suppose I should have asked if you wanted to see it.”
“I do.”
“O-Oh! Okay then! Uh…” Aether took a deep breath, then held his hand out to Xiao. His smile with the setting sun behind him was dazzling, and the yaksha couldn’t help the shaky breath he exhaled. Before he could let his own anxiety win him over, Xiao took Aether’s hand. Paimon hopped on her traveler’s shoulder, and he touched the teapot. He was used to the feeling of transporting to another realm, but when Xiao landed on the terrace, he was at a loss for words.
It was on a mountaintop, overlooking the sea of clouds. They were pink with the setting sun, almost looking like fluffy sheep or a bunch of bubbles. Outside the terrace was a garden, but instead of what most people would consider a garden, it was free growing Qinxing flowers and Cecelias. The white flowers danced in the breeze along the top of the cliffs, and though they usually stayed away from toehr flowers, these all seemed to intermingle. Beyond that was a zen garden, filled with flowing waters, rock beds, and a kotatsu settled within a hardwood floor. A cherry blossom tree ever in bloom looked over the ridge and the kotasu table.
“Aether…” Xiao breathlessly got out. He didn’t even realize he had said it until Paimon started chuckling.
“Paimon really thinks that you’ll like this place!”
Damn it. Aether knew Xiao too well. He knew just how much Xiao loved the mountaintops and those flowers. He felt Aether’s hand merge with his, causing him to squeeze it. A breeze wandered through the field of flowers, and for the first time, he realized that there was a path towards a larger, Liyue style house. Aether squeezed his hand back, slowly leading Xiao deeper into the realm.
A stone path connected the different buildings, one of them being the main household, and some other ones looked like guest sleeping quarters. The oak house that Aether had started to leave him to was something comparative to the jade chamber in size, though without the floating plausterite on the bottom. Two xiao lanterns hung in the space under the door, both of them swaying and bumping into each other in the cool breeze. Aether opened the door for Xiao, and noted that the inside wasn’t as lavish as the outside.
The entry way was filled with vases of lively flowers from every point in the reigon. Windwheel asters, snapdragons, calla lilies, qixings, cecelias, lotus heads, violet grass. All of the places that Aether had been to had been represented, with plenty of other empty vases ready for the other regions he’d be going to. The rug was a light blue, like the color of anemo energy, leading to the main living room area.
To the left was a kitchen, and a rather simple one at that. The necessary pots and pans were there, a small pantry placed into the wall for all he’d need, and of course all the dishes he’d need. A stove was set into the corner, the fire crackling. Not far from that was a long table, with enough space for at least ten people to sit there. Apparently, Aether was prepared to have a lot of people come over.
There looked to be a small study room on the farther end of the house, one bordered by windows that looked out to the world, equipped with tatami mats and familiar white paper doors that slide shut if need be. Incense was set there, though currently not burning, and the windows seemed to be able to be opened if required. Couches were set to the right, and a couple of doors were propped open. One of them looked to be an in-house garden, and another was a small training room. There was no upstairs, instead the rafters had things hanging from them. Some of them were xiao lanterns, some of them were the flowery wreaths from Mondstadt’s Windblume festival. In the rafters also floated a great deal of crystal flies; cryo, anemo and geo were all floating lazily about.
“It’s… still a work in progress, but I wanted to show you,” Aether shyly mumbled.
Xiao nodded. “It’s nice.”
Aether’s face flushed, and he flashed Xiao another smile. “I’m glad you think so! Here, I have some tea, do you want any?”
“Sure.”
Aether squeezed Xiao’s hand before departing, and Paimon held back a snicker that, this time, Xiao acknowledged.
“What?” he questioned.
“Oh! Uhm, nothing! Paimon just thinks it’s cute!” She held her hands behind her back and tilted her head to the side, beaming at the two of them.
“What is?”
Paimon lowered her voice, getting closer to Xiao so that Aether couldn’t hear. “He’s been really trying hard to make sure that this suited you. He’s super nervous about it! But you didn’t hear that from Paimon.”
For… him?
Before Xiao could ask anymore questioned, Paimon zipped off, heading to a tiny side room that he hadn’t noticed before. The yaksha shook his head, trying to dismiss the heavy beating in his chest, but to no effect. He wandered up behind Aether as he was preparing the tea, pulling the hair tie out of the blonde’s hair.
“Mm, I forget how much you like my hair,” Aether mused, leaning back to look at him.
Xiao started to rake his fingers through the braid, loosening the strands until they were long and wavy. “It’s… nice,” Xiao admitted. Though the tea was halfway done, Aether was now properly distracted, enjoying the fingers wandering through his locks. He leaned back into Xiao, humming happily as the yaksha wrapped his arms around his waist. It was nice that it came naturally now. Before, Xiao would have been too nervous to ever attempt something like this.
He felt Xiao’s nose nuzzle into the crook of his neck, his lips tracing lazy kisses on his skin. Aether’s fingers intertwined with Xiao’s, his head leaning back onto the yaksha’s shoulders and closing his eyes. A content sigh left his body, with Xiao responding with a kiss to Aether’s jaw.
“Was there a reason behind this?” Xiao eventually asked.
“Behind what?” Aether drowsily replied.
“Behind you bringing me here.”
Aether chuckled, turning around in Xiao’s arms so that he could press his forehead against the incredibly tough and menacing yaksha. He really didn’t seem like it, for in the moment, his eyes danced with a bright light, mixing with the tint of pink on his cheeks and ears. Aether wrapped his arms around Xiao’s neck, lacing his own fingers in his dark locks, eliciting a low growl from him.
“Yes, there was, though it was kind of selfish,” Aether admitted.
“Do tell,” Xiao prodded.
Aether sighed and pursed his lips. Xiao’s stare and the scent of qixing was extremely potent, making it fairly hard to focus. “You adepti gave this serenitea pot to me not too long ago, about six months, but… I realized after about a week that I just felt… lonely. I started to dread coming here eventually, because I had no one really to share this with other than Paimon.”
“You have many friends, Aether.”
“I know, I know,” Aether huffed, a frown forming on his features. Xiao hated that look to him. “But they would leave, eventually, and the same feeling would be there. A-At that time, we weren’t dating… But after we were, Paimon suggested that I make this place a little more towards your liking, and it’s been my project for a while now.”
“Why to me?” Xiao pouted. “I do not need such extravagance.”
“Cause,” Aether started, placing a small kiss to Xiao’s lips. “It isn’t home without you. Will you stay here with me?”
Xiao opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it because nothing came out. His face burned, the butterflies in his stomach were going out of control, and all he could do to counteract this was pull Aether into a kiss. Aether laughed and smiled through the kiss, and Xiao thoroughly enjoyed what those sounds turned into. He hoped that Paimon wouldn’t hear.
When they parted, Aether chuckled more, a couple of fingers tracing down Xiao’s jawline. The look he was giving him… with reddy cheeks, lack of breath, and half-lidded eyes, Xiao was melting. He looked so happy and serene, and for once, not bothered with the rest of the world. Just Xiao. The yaksha had to look away by resting hos forehead on Aether’s shoulder, which brought another laugh from the blonde.
“I’m assuming that’s a yes?” he purred in Xiao’s ear, slowly massaging his stressed shoulders.
Xiao could only shyly nod, taking in the scent of windwheel asters. Never in his life did he have a proper home. It was because of his fact that he had almost given into his karma, as he had nowhere to go, no where to recoup from his constant battles. As Aether tended to his tense muscles, Xiao found himself closing the space between their bodies, leaning against him as Aether leaned against the counter.
Aether only hugged him tighter when he felt the tears on his skin.
“What’s wrong?” Aether whispered.
“I’m…” he sniffled and held the traveler close. “I’m home.”
Aether pressed a kiss to Xiao’s head. “Happy birthday, Xiao,” he purred.
It took a while for Xiao to stop the tears, as silent as they were. Neither of them minded. Aether held onto him for as long as he needed. It was a lot for Xiao to process. After the thousands of years of being alone, never having a place to truly be, or anyone to be himself around, he was finally granted the thing he’d denied himself for so long. Love was a difficult thing for him to comprehend, but it had gifted him the best birthday present he’d ever had. He supposed he could acknowledge his birthday for this one year, at least.