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The Paws and Claws Cafe was just a short walk from the subway station, and Aether never minded the walk, though he was always heartbroken when he glanced back to find the cats watching him go from their window perch.
He had left the cafe later than usual today, having covered one of Amber’s shifts after she’d been kept late in class. It was a rare occurrence, and Aether never minded helping her out, especially if it meant he had a little extra time with the cats.
The sun was beginning to set, and thankfully it was starting to cool off, helped along by a cool breeze. Summer so far, had been extremely warm, and the cafe’s air conditioning was the only thing to save him during the day. He always forgot how warm it was until he left the pleasant coolness of the building as was greeted with the blazing sun.
Aether adjusted his bag on his shoulder as he walked down the street, paying little mind to the people passing him by. He was daydreaming again; silly as it was, sometimes he daydreamed about being a knight, traveling the world and meeting so many different people. His sister, and Paimon, his cat, were also there, though their roles varied and were often strange.
He never thought much of it; Lumine had always told him he had a knack for storytelling, so it was natural that he would spend his time thinking up new stories to tell the cats at the cafe and children he told stories to at the library on the weekends.
A yawn forced itself to Aether’s lips, reminding him of how tired he was; he’d just pulled a double shift, after all.
Thankfully, he’d reached the stairs that led down to the subway. He hurried down the steps, reaching into his bag for his pass, praying that he’d actually remembered to bring it this time.
The subway was crowded, as it usually was, though it was definitely past the time that most people got off work. He rarely took the subway home this late, so he wasn’t quite sure if this was normal or not.
Aether finally found his pass and swiped it through the machine before pushing through the turnstile. His train hadn’t arrived yet, and the one that traveled in the opposite direction was loading passengers now. He stepped up to the edge of the track and looked through the crowd; maybe Lumine would be on her way home, too, though she usually didn’t make it back home until well after dark.
He shifted his gaze towards the other train, absentmindedly glancing at each passenger at the window until it settled on the face of someone hauntingly familiar, though he couldn’t place where he’d seen him before.
The stranger’s gaze shifted towards him, as if he had sensed Aether watching him, his amber eyes locking with Aether’s.
The world spun around Aether, and he lurched forward, suddenly dizzy.
“...speak my name. Is that not what I told you?” Xiao asked, Aether didn’t know how he knew this familiar stranger’s name, his voice softer than he’d ever heard it. “Speak my name if you’re ever in trouble, if you ever can’t bring yourself to strike, speak my name. Aether, what would you have done had I not been close by?”
His tone was harsh for once, but Aether knew it was out of concern, though Xiao would never say it so outright.
The rain soaked them both, even the streaks of teal that ran through Xiao’s dark hair closer to black than their usual color. His amber eyes gazed into Aether’s own, and for a moment he thought he might drown in their depths.
Aether blinked, briefly coming back to his senses in the crowd in the subway station, but it didn’t last long. He lifted his head, his gaze seeking the stranger’s once more, Aether’s confusion reflected in his eyes.
“Xiao! You can’t just eat any old snow!” Aether smacked Xiao’s hands, knocking the mound of snow he’d gathered back onto the ground before he could take a bite. “You don’t know what’s been walking around in it! Not to mention the fact that it’s yellow snow.”
Tilting his head and furrowing his brows, Xiao stared at him. “What’s the difference? It’s just yellow.” Clearly, Xiao’s interactions with people were few and far between and yellow snow was not a lesson he had learned.
“Xiao...yellow snow means that someone peed on it!” Aether put his face in his hands, shaking his head. “I’ll help you find some clean snow to eat instead…you’re so silly.” He couldn’t help the little laugh that bubbled between his lips. "But that's why I love you, ya know."
The train was beginning to leave when Aether found himself temporarily grounded in reality again. What on earth was happening?
Aether didn’t understand; all these things he’d been seeing felt like more than just a hallucination. It felt like memories, like he was remembering things from a long time ago, but...there was no possible way that any of these things had happened. The...memories, for lack of a better term at the moment, were more like his daydreams.
Or...maybe it was the other way around?
The train, and the stranger, whose expression had changed to something akin to vague recognition and confusion, disappeared into the tunnel, and then he was gone.
It was raining. It was always raining during their farewells, though usually they’d meet again the next week or month depending on where Aether’s journeys would take him. But they always found a way to meet again.
Except once.
Aether had never needed to call Xiao for help; he’d always been careful not to worry him, not to take any unnecessary risks or push himself too hard. Xiao never liked it when he came back injured or so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open.
But Aether had finally met his match.
It was all fuzzy now; he couldn’t remember who or what he’d been facing, but remembered calling for Xiao, remembered the final blow.
There was so much blood, but Aether hardly felt the wound it was coming from. Instead, he felt himself cradled in Xiao’s arms, a rare occurrence from the yaksha that kept himself apart from ordinary people.
“Why didn’t you call me sooner? I told you to call me if you were in trouble!” Xiao didn’t sound like himself. For once in all the time that Aether had known him, he sounded distraught.
Aether reached up with one feeble hand, fingers dripping both water and blood, and placed it on Xiao’s cheek gently. This was it; he knew it. He could feel it in his bones.
“I’m...I’m sorry…” He whispered. “Please don’t be sad…”
Xiao reached up, placing his hand over Aether’s as he stared at him. “You promised you’d be careful…you promised you’d call me before something like this happened…”
Aether blinked rapidly, trying to stay awake long enough to say goodbye. But it was so hard to speak, to even keep his eyes open.
“Xiao...we’ll meet again...someday...I promise…”
Aether woke up not in the subway station, but under a familiar ceiling, with several familiar furry feline faces staring down at him in concern. It was the cafe, but...he didn’t remember walking back from the station.
In fact, he didn’t remember anything after that last memory. It had to be a memory; his daydreams had never been so vivid, and he’d never once fainted while he’d been daydreaming. There was no other explanation for it, unless he was hallucinating, but...he felt just fine, aside from the lingering pain just to the left of his heart and the growing headache forming just behind his ear, presumably where he’d hit the ground.
He sat up slowly, rubbing at his eyes. He wanted to cry, to sob for the incredibly cruel thing he’d done to Xiao, for leaving him all alone. How could he have been so careless?
“Aether…” A soft voice said from beside him, and if he hadn’t recognized Qiqi’s voice, he might have thought it was one of the cats speaking to him. As it was, he whipped his head around, relaxing when he saw that it was just her sitting there.
“Hi, Qiqi, what are you doing here? The cafe’s closed.” He asked, offering her the tiniest of smiles and hoping she didn’t notice how shaken up he was.
Qiqi pointed at the doorway behind him, blinking her sleepy magenta eyes as she watched him. “Diluc promised cocogoat milk if I watched you until they came back.”
Aether glanced back at the doorway, startled to find both Diluc, the owner of the cafe, and Baizhu, the owner of Bubu Clinic just down the street, walking into the room. He frowned a little.
“Glad to see you up. You’re quite lucky Qiqi and I were around.” Baizhu greeted as he came to sit next to him, tilting Aether’s head to examine the unfortunate bump that was forming after he’d hit his head. “How are you feeling? Dizzy?”
He was all business now, running through his usual questions when dealing with a patient, but Aether was hardly paying attention to him anymore, instead watching as Diluc passed Qiqi a cup of coconut milk or, ‘cocogoat milk,’ as she’d called it since she had misheard Lumine when she’d been calling out an order one day.
“Well, you’re okay as far as I can tell, but you should rest for the next couple of days, just in case.” Baizhu leaned back, pushing his glasses up. His attention was drawn to one of the cats, which had begun to bat at the strands of hair that hung down on the left side of his face.
“Amber will take your shifts for the rest of this week; I’ve already talked to her about it.” Diluc spoke up, watching Aether with an unreadable expression. His crimson eyes were stern. “You shouldn’t have taken Amber’s shift if you were so tired.”
“Drink this, and we’ll call your sister.” Baizhu handed him a glass of water, fetching his phone from his pocket with his free hand.
Aether took the glass of water, sipping at it once or twice before setting it down. “I need to use the bathroom.” He mumbled, keeping his head down. He didn’t know how to explain to Lumine what he’d remembered, and the last thing he wanted to do right now was try. He couldn’t lie to her either.
He got up, patted the cats, and made his way out of the room and towards the bathroom. He could hear Baizhu and Qiqi talking while Diluc made the phone call.
It was easy to slip out the front door while they thought he was in the bathroom. The bell that had hung over the door had been broken when Klee had been testing one of her ‘science experiments,’ which Aether was fairly certain was code for ‘bombs,’ and had accidentally blown it up.
Either way, it made it easy for him to slip out now, without alerting anyone to what he was doing. They were only helping him, he knew, but...he just needed to be alone for a while to put together the pieces of a puzzle that had suddenly been sprung on him.
Aether was halfway to the train station before he realized that the last train had probably already left for the night. It was dark, and the moon was high in the sky, telling him that he’d been out cold for longer than he’d originally thought.
It would take him at least an hour to get home if he walked, but...maybe that would be good. He could sort out his thoughts before he made it home and had to deal with Lumine and her fury.
As he walked, more hazy memories from another life came to the surface. He was growing more and more certain that his daydreams were not and never had been actual daydreams.
The most impactful memories, the ones that nearly brought him to tears even now, were related to Xiao. He had loved him so much, and...with the resurgence of these memories, he realized that love had never faded, though he’d never realized that his heart had already been taken the moment he’d been brought back into this world.
As he walked, Aether grew more and more certain that he had to find Xiao again. The last time that they’d met had ended in tragedy, and this was a new chance to try again in a far gentler world than the one they’d met in.
He had to find Xiao; had to keep his promise. They would meet again, he was sure of it.
Aether nearly jumped when his phone rang, and he fumbled to retrieve it from his pocket, dread sinking into the pit of his stomach when he saw Lumine’s name on the screen.
The choice he had to make wouldn’t be great either way; he could ignore her call and watch her explode in real time when he got home, or he could deal with her now, and hopefully go right to bed when he got home.
Aether reluctantly swiped up on the answer call button and put his phone to his ear, bracing himself for the inevitable scolding he was about to receive.
“Where are you, Aether? Diluc called and said you collapsed in the train station, and when you woke up, you just ran off. What happened?” Lumine was surprisingly calm, though concern leaked into her voice.
“I’m okay, Lumine...I just needed some space.” Aether replied, choosing his words carefully. “I was just tired after I left the cafe, but I’m okay now. Sorry for worrying you.”
Lumine was silent, and for a moment Aether thought the call had been dropped. But the next moment, she spoke up.
“Let me come pick you up. You won’t get home until midnight if you walk.” She didn’t sound as if she was going to accept no for an answer.
Aether sighed, knowing she was right, but also not wanting to explain what had happened. Either way, they were going to end up having a conversation that he wasn’t ready to have, and walking home would only stall it further.
“I won’t ask any questions, if that’s what you’re concerned about. Just let me come get you.” Lumine said when he didn’t immediately reply.
“...I’m just a few blocks from the subway station.” Aether replied finally, plopping down on a nearby bench to wait. “Sorry.”
“Stay on the phone, and I’ll be there in a bit.” Lumine said. He could hear the sound of traffic through the phone.
He knew that he wasn’t acting like himself; he never let anything get him down. And yet, here he was, sullen and downcast. He needed to find Xiao, he needed to keep his promise. Even if Xiao didn’t recognize him, didn’t remember him, he at least needed to fulfill the promise he’d made with his dying breath.
Aether put his face in his hands, trying to push away the dusty memories lurking in his soul while he waited for Lumine. He didn’t want to pass out again before she got there or on the way home.
Eventually, one of the passing cars pulled over next to him, and he heard the window roll down. It was Lumine, he was sure, but he glanced up to double check, sighing in relief when it really was her.
“Come on, Aether, get in. Xiangling packed up some of the extra leftovers for me when we closed tonight.” Lumine leaned over and opened the door for him, pushing it open.
Aether got up, hanging up the call and sliding into the seat. “Thanks, Lumine.” He shut the door and buckled up, craning around to look for the food she had promised. Wanmin Restaurant’s food was legendary, and even feeling as ill as he was, he couldn’t resist eating at least a little.
“Glad to see you at least have an appetite.” Lumine commented as she pulled into the street, keeping her eyes on the road. “I ate before I left, so you can have it.”
Wasting no time, Aether grabbed the bag from the back seat, pulling it open and peeking inside. It was still warm, and it smelled so amazing that he didn’t even bother to figure out what he was eating before he ate it.
The drive home was comfortable; Lumine asked no questions, and Aether offered no explanation. They were silent, but it was a silence that was communication in and of itself.
Aether and Lumine were twins, closer to each other than anyone else in the world. They knew things about each other that no one else in the world did, and when one was upset, it took no words for the other to understand exactly what was wrong.
By the time they made it back to their apartment, Lumine had already figured out what was wrong, her expression contemplative.
“Don’t dwell on it. It’s in the past, and we’re here now, safe.” She said finally. “It’s over and done with. Nothing could have changed what happened, so you can’t blame yourself for it.”
“You don’t understand, Lumine.” Aether whispered, avoiding her gaze. “I made a promise. I need to keep that promise.”
Lumine undid her seatbelt, frowning a little. “I won’t stop you from whatever you’re planning. Just...be careful, okay?”
“Thanks for understanding.” Aether got out of the car, cradling the rest of his food as if it were currently the most important thing to him.
He went to the kitchen and put the food in the fridge, rubbing at his cheeks a little before going to his room. He needed to sleep before coming up with a plan that was more than just ‘find Xiao.’
Aether plopped down onto his bed, burrowing into his blankets and snuggling into his pillow. He was asleep long before another thought entered his head.
~*~
For the next several days, Aether spent his mornings doing nothing much before eventually going to the subway station every evening around the same time that he’d first seen Xiao.
It must have been a fluke, meeting Xiao there, because he never saw him on the subway again. But still he waited for hours upon hours until he had to give up and go home before the last train left for the night.
“Aether, if all you’re going to do is stand around the subway while you’re supposed to be resting, you may as well come back to work.”
It was Diluc, arms crossed and for once wearing the standard cafe uniform that the majority of the employees wore during their shifts; a soft pink apron with pawprints dotting it and a pair of cat ears sitting atop his head.
“I...I have something I have to do.” Aether said vaguely, only glancing up at him when Diluc bopped the back of his head with one hand. “I’ll be back on Monday. Why are you wearing the uniform, anyway? You never do. I thought you swore off ever wearing it after Venti posted a picture of you in it all over the internet.”
Diluc grimaced. “Don’t remind me. I’m only wearing it now because we have an adoption event happening this weekend.” He paused, his expression growing darker. “Venti has been banned from the cafe until it’s over.”
Aether cracked a smile for the first time since he’d seen Xiao. “I’ll warn him off if I see him. But I don’t think you’ll be able to keep him away. He always finds a way to get that picture. I don’t know how he does it when he’s allergic to cats.”
“That’s why you should come help out for a while. Bennett has been overwhelmed keeping track of all the cats, and I’m responsible for handling adoptions.” Diluc grabbed Aether by the elbow, pulling him along out of the subway station. Clearly, he wasn’t going to accept no for an answer.
“You don’t have to tug on my arm like that…” Aether wiggled loose from Diluc’s grip. Maybe it would be good to do something normal for a bit. “I don’t have my uniform with me.”
“You left it at the cafe with your bag when you ran away.” Diluc pointed out. “Come on, it’s just for two hours and you’ll get overtime for it.”
“...I was coming to help anyway.” Aether said, though he didn’t mind the overtime; Paimon had put a hole in his favorite sweater last night, and the overtime would make him feel less guilty about replacing it. “How’d you know I was here, anyway? Only Lumine was supposed to know…”
“Amber saw you loitering around on her way home.” Diluc replied, glancing at him.
“Oh.” Aether looked down as they walked. He decided to change the subject. “I’m surprised you wore the ears out here. Venti could be in hiding, waiting to take a picture of you.”
Diluc glanced at him, unfettered horror crossing his face briefly, as if he hadn’t considered that possibility. Clearly, he’d thought he would have been safe since he wasn’t anywhere the florist was expecting him to be.
“I heard he gained like a hundred followers after he posted that last picture of you, and that was without the cat ears.” Aether commented absently.
Almost immediately, Diluc yanked the cat ears off his head, cursing Albedo and Klee for coming up with the uniforms and cursing himself for allowing it. “You should have mentioned that sooner.”
“Well, I sort of thought you would have known that...I’m actually surprised you didn’t notice the stares until I said something.” Aether covered his mouth as he laughed. “I’ll go to Venti’s shop tomorrow and make sure he didn’t get any pictures, don’t worry. But in exchange, Lumine wants some of the pawprint cookies and strawberry shortcake. She’s mad because she thinks you’re overworking me.”
“It’s a deal.” Dliuc agreed without complaint, deciding that giving away some of the cafe’s pastries for free was an acceptable price if it meant that no more pictures of him ended up on the internet.
They made it to the cafe, and Aether found himself feeling a particular sense of déjà vu, as if this were something he had done a million times before in a slightly different way. Maybe it was the situation or the people included.
The only clear face he’d seen in the memories from his past was Xiao’s, but...there was something nostalgic about walking in on one of Bennett’s unfortunate moments of bad luck. He’d seen it a million times before, but he felt a particular fondness for the situation now.
Bennett had done his best to keep the cats in line with Klee’s help, but somehow he’d still ended up taking shelter under one of the cafe tables while one of the cats went on a particularly destructive spree of the ‘zoomies,’ while Albedo and Klee looked on in rapt silence.
It was going to be a long night, and Aether had no time to focus on the things that were keeping him down.
~*~
Ten o’clock in the morning on a Saturday came far too early for Aether, but he dragged himself out of bed anyway. He’d promised he’d talk to Venti and make him delete any pictures of cat-eared Diluc that he’d managed to catch.
He didn’t bother showering, instead just pulling on a lightweight hoodie and a pair of shorts and messily braiding his hair before calling it good. He’d stayed up far too late last night fretting over Xiao, and didn’t have the energy now to get himself dressed up any nicer.
Aether pulled his shoes on and shuffled out of his room, giving Paimon a pat on her fluffy head as he passed her cat tree. He glanced around, noting how quiet the apartment was. Lumine must have already left for the day.
He sighed and went to the fridge, searching through it until he gave up and just grabbed a slice of cheese to munch on. It would be easier to grab breakfast on the way over to Venti’s flower shop.
As he made his way out of the kitchen, he gave Paimon, who had followed him in, another pat. She really was the softest cat he’d ever met, even if she was also the most boisterous...and hungriest.
Aether grabbed his bag from the hook near the door, slinging it across his shoulder. Maybe after he saw Venti, he could go to the video game store. It would be hell sneaking them into the apartment, since Lumine always seemed to know when he spent money on frivolous things, but it would give him something new to focus on for a while.
When he stepped out of the apartment, he found that it was already quite warm and was glad that he’d decided on shorts. The sun was shining down on him, not a cloud in sight. He decided to take that as a good sign; today would be a good day.
Venti’s flower shop, Thousand Winds, was much closer to his apartment than the Paws and Claws Cafe, so there would be no need for Aether to take the subway this time. It was only a twenty minute walk.
Halfway there, he poked his head into a tiny coffee shop. It didn’t have nearly as good coffee as the Paws and Claws did, but it would do for now, and he could pick up some donuts for the rest of his walk.
He went inside, going to the thankfully open counter, and ordering an extra sweet vanilla latte and a few of the well-frosted donuts, all of which had a ridiculous amount of sprinkles. It was nice to splurge once in a while and while the coffee wasn’t the best, the donuts were superior to anywhere else.
Aether paid and left, munching on a donut as he walked down the street towards Venti’s shop. If he squinted, he could see it in the distance.
A thought came to him as he walked, a memory of times long past. He wondered if Venti carried Qingxin flowers; he remembered scaling intimidating cliffs in search of the rare flowers to bring one to Xiao every time they met. It wouldn’t hurt to ask at least, even if he didn’t.
Aether pushed the door open, glancing around for Venti when the bell above the door tinkled to alert the shorter man to customers.
“Venti, it’s me!” He called, peering around the mess of beautiful Cecilias that decorated the entrance. Venti had always been fond of the flower, and Aether could understand why; they were gorgeous.
“Wah! Aether! You scared me!” Venti crawled out from among the Cecilias, much to Aether’s confusion. “What are you doing here? Don’t you usually work mornings?”
It was still early enough in the day that Venti was sober and decidedly less prone to mischief, much to Aether’s relief.
“I’m off until Monday.” Aether smiled, shutting the door behind him. “But I guess I’m technically here on work business. I need your phone for a minute, Venti.”
Venti squinted at Aether, brushing stray leaves from his hair. “Why do you need my phone?”
Aether could see the gears spinning in Venti’s head as he tried to figure out how to get out of handing his phone over. He was like a prey animal, green eyes darting every which way as he tried to puzzle a way out, as if Aether were a wolf and he a sheep about to be pounced on.
It wasn’t a particularly bad way of describing it, considering that Aether was tensing in preparation of pursuing Venti when he inevitably fled, as was very much the usual whenever Diluc sent him to make sure that Venti deleted every photo that he’d taken of him, in or out of uniform.
Today, Aether was faster; he grabbed Venti by the wrist with one hand and swiftly snatched his phone from his pocket with the other. He laughed a little as he danced out of Venti’s reach, quickly unlocking his phone and opening the photo gallery.
He looked through all the photos, deleting any of Diluc that he found. He was still amazed that Venti managed to snap so many pictures of him without ever stepping foot in the cafe, and more amazed that each picture was somehow flawless. It was easy to determine that Venti was an excellent photographer for the wrong reasons, and Diluc looked very good in cat ears.
“Sorry, Venti, free pastries were on the line, so I can’t let you keep even one.” Aether said as he passed the phone back to Venti, who had begun to pout in earnest.
“You’re no fun, Aether.” Venti crossed his arms as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket and turned away to mope among the Cecilias.
“I could never say no to free food.” Aether puffed his cheeks out, leaning down and peeking into the plants that Venti hid himself behind. “I do have a non-work related question to ask you, though. A flower question.”
Almost immediately, Venti perked up, zipping out of the plants. “Are you going to buy some Cecilias?” He asked. “I over ordered again and I have so many in stock.”
“No, I was just wondering if you had Qingxin flowers by chance.” Aether replied, tilting his head. “But I guess that explains why there’s so many Cecilias that you can hide in them.”
“Qingxin?” Venti seemed perplexed by the question. “Sure, I stock them. I have a regular customer that comes in to buy some on Saturdays, but other than him, you’re the first person to ask for them. What do you need those for?”
“Oh, I just thought they’d be nice to have. They’re such a pretty flower.” Aether replied vaguely.
The bell above the door tinkled again, and Venti glanced over, raising a hand in greeting. “Xiaooooooo! I have your Qingxins!”
Aether stiffened for a moment at the mention of Xiao’s name. He didn’t dare believe it was the Xiao he was looking for; what were the odds that they would meet again once more in the last place that Aether expected. It was almost certainly another Xiao, and so Aether went about examining the Cecilias.
“...you’re that cat eared guy that collapsed in the subway station the other day.” The sound of Xiao’s voice, something that Aether had remembered among his memories, sent chills down his spine.
He was scared suddenly; scared that Xiao wouldn’t remember him, scared that he would think he was weird or crazy, scared that even if he did remember him, he would never forgive him for being so careless. So he didn’t turn around just yet, afraid that his searching would all be for naught and would bring him more pain than never seeing him again would.
“I’m surprised you can tell it was me from behind.” Aether laughed nervously, trying to calm his nerves before facing him. It was bad enough that he’d just realized he had forgotten to take his cat ears off before going into the subway the other day.
“Hm? Xiao, do you know Aether?” Venti asked, glancing between the two. “Aether, when did you collapse in the subway? Are you okay?”
“I just saw him on the subway platform the other day, but...somehow I feel as if I’ve known him longer.” Xiao replied, almost hesitant.
Aether rubbed his face a little before finally turning around, his gaze not quite meeting Xiao’s at first. “Sorry, I know this isn’t going to make sense at all, but...I made a promise, and I intend to keep it, whether or not you remember it.” He took a deep breath, finally lifting his gaze to look into Xiao’s amber eyes. “I found you.”
Xiao stared at him blankly for a moment, as if he had no idea what Aether was talking about. “Do I…”
All at once, recognition flooded Xiao’s gaze, and he stumbled backwards, putting one hand to his face. Several emotions crossed his face in swift succession, as if even he couldn’t hide them; confusion, realization, shock, horror, agony.
“Xiao…” Aether reached out one hand, but didn’t dare to grab him. “Xiao, I’m so sorry...I’m so sorry I left you all alone. But...I’m here now. I found you.”
“You died.” Xiao said flatly as he stared at Aether. “You said you’d call me if you needed help, but...but…” He swayed again. “Nothing was okay after you...after you were gone…” He was speaking almost as if he didn’t realize that Aether was there anymore.
Aether’s heart hurt, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He flung himself at Xiao, wrapping both arms around him tightly. Tears welled in his eyes as he pressed his face against Xiao’s neck; he smelled of Qingxin flowers, a scent that comforted him like no other.
“After all this time...we’re finally together again…” Aether sniffled, his arms tightening around Xiao. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I left you behind.”
For a moment, Xiao just stood there, shocked. But eventually, he wrapped his arms around Aether, holding him so tightly as if he were afraid that he would slip through his fingers again if he loosened his grip even a fraction.
“There were so many things I should have done, but didn’t. I’m so sorry, Xiao. I’m so sorry for hurting you, for leaving you, for dying on you. I’m so sorry.” Aether couldn’t stop apologizing, the flood of tears he’d never been able to shed and words he’d never been able to say spilling from his lips without any stopping them.
Xiao put his hand on Aether’s cheek, pressing his lips to Aether’s more forcefully than he meant to just to shut him up. He stubbornly ignored Venti’s laughing and clapping in the background, instead revelling in the familiar feeling of being so close to Aether.
Aether’s eyes widened, and he just stared at Xiao when he pulled away, shocked into silence. His face was bright, the way it always got when Xiao was the one to seek a kiss.
“Shut up for a while.” Xiao whispered, searching his gaze with a softness that was reserved only for Aether. “You’re apologizing too much.”
It was impossible for Aether to look away from Xiao. It felt as if he were dreaming, and at any moment, he would wake up and find that none of this had actually happened, that he hadn’t actually found him again.
“You’re really here. You’re really okay.” Aether whispered, his fingers brushing against Xiao’s face as he lifted his hand. “I can’t believe I found you.”
“Well...you did. You kept your promise.” Xiao watched him, tightening his arm around his waist. “And now I’m never going to let you go.” His words came out more as a growl than anything, and Aether laughed softly.
“I don’t think I ever told you this enough, but I love you, now and forever.” Aether rested his head on Xiao’s shoulder again, reassuring himself that he was really there.
Xiao paused, hesitant as always when he spoke his affections. But that was one of the things Aether loved about him; careful with words that held weight.
“I love you, too.”
~*~
Aether leaned his back against Xiao’s, resting his sword on the ground next to him. He was humming a joyful little tune, slightly off-beat, but endearing all the same.
Behind him, Xiao rested against him, more relaxed than Aether had ever seen him, spear rising from the ground beside him, point down. He was listening to Aether hum, put at ease by his soothing presence.
They’d come so far, and each step closer to each other had been hard earned. Xiao had never been one to let anyone close to him, and Aether had been saddled with the weight of the world. Even so, they’d managed to find small moments where they could be with each other, unintentional at first, and then sought by Aether, and then sought by both of them.
It was another of those moments now, and Aether found himself wanting to say more than he could. Things had been rougher than they’d ever been lately, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he wanted reassurance; wanted to know that Xiao had his back, no matter what happened.
“I love you, Xiao.” Aether glanced up at the sky, watching the fluffy clouds float by as a small smile curled across his face. “I love you a lot. I love you so much.”
“What are you getting so sappy for?” Xiao asked, masking his embarrassment with harsh words that held no actual bite.
Aether leaned his head back onto Xiao’s shoulder, peeking at his flushed cheek from the corner of his eye. “I just wanted you to know that. I also want you to know that no matter what happens, I’ll always find you again. Whether in this life or the next, I’ll find you again.”
“Not if I’m the one to find you first.” Xiao spoke without thinking, his face going more red when he realized what he’d said. “No matter what, we’ll always find each other again. Promise.”
The smile on Aether’s face was as bright as the sun.
“Promise.”