Work Text:
| 4 weeks later |
Click.
The silver key turned, causing the lock to signal its opening.
Turning the doorknob, the traveller barged into the room with all the grace of a sleep-deprived hilichurl, with Paimon tiredly following behind him and occasionally bumping into his back. Honestly, that description could probably fit both of them as they were now. The accompanying mental image his brain supplied him was far more amusing to Aether than it should’ve been, signalling that he might’ve been a little delirious with fatigue. He let out an inappropriate snort, to which Paimon could only look at him with an incredulous expression before breaking into a yawn.
“...uh...Paimon’ll take the left side, you take right.”
Aether nodded, not having the energy to respond otherwise.
“Okie dokie...g’night.”
Having spent the last of her energy as well, the little fairy slowly floated her way to the bed which sat in the middle of the room, plopping down and immediately clocking out. Seconds later, he could hear those soft snores, and he chuckled despite himself. Aether was almost jealous of how easily she managed to do that. It was rarely that simple for him, even when he was bone-dead tired.
He started unpacking their belongings, getting lost in thought and pacing the room in the process.
They’d just trekked back from Mondstadt, being hindered by Hilichurl camps, Geovishaps, and those irrationally infuriating Dendro slimes. Aether had no idea why the return trip had been so tedious. He half suspected they were both wearing invisible “Kill us!” signs on their backs from the sheer volumes of enemies that they attracted. His sore back was begging him not to camp outside another night, so he acquiesced and rented a room as soon as they’d entered the harbour, ignoring his usual frugality. His wallet had not been happy about that. He told it to shut up.
As much as he loved Liyue, Mondstadt felt the closest to home. It was nice to get away from the generally prickly people of the harbour to the friendly, laid-back denizens of the city of wind. Everything about Mondstadt was relaxing: its kingdom, its people, its monsters (though Aether usually tried to avoid them regardless). Even camping outside was peaceful, as opposed to camping out in Liyue, which felt like a daunting task every time. Perhaps he was just running from his issues, but he needed to be surrounded by a place that didn’t continually remind him of his current...predicament.
Amber had given him a soul-crushing hug as soon as she’d spotted him walking into the gates. He smiled sadly at the memory. No hugs were waiting for him in Liyue. There were also no stoic tavern owners, smug calvary captains, dependable grandmasters, lazy librarian mages, adorable bomb enthusiasts, prideful astrologists, and worst of all, no mischievous bards with serious drinking problems. In Mondstadt, friends were waiting for him. In Liyue, mostly stingy merchants and Archon elitists greeted him.
Actually, nevermind. They usually didn’t care either.
For a few weeks, it was a good change of pace for Aether. He liked roaming the streets with Paimon and making small talk with the citizens, helping Jean with her far too many errands, trying to teach Amber some cooking lessons (unsuccessfully). Some nights, he would find himself at Angel’s Share, sipping from his sparkling apple cider while listening to one of Venti’s drunken rambles before getting spooked by Kaeya. The cryo captain would chuckle lightly, apologize, and take his seat next to Aether, ask what was troubling him because of course, Kaeya could see right through him.
Aether had previously found Kaeya to be a surprisingly attentive listener in their friendship. It made it easier for the traveller to express his problems, whether it was the pressure of being Mondstadt and Liyue’s saviour or more recent things. The cavalry captain wouldn’t interrupt, wouldn’t push him to share anything he didn’t wish to. He simply listened while occasionally smiling— not his usual, arrogant one, but a genuine, sympathetic one; a rare sight on the man. While the traveller spoke, the other would place a hand on his back, rubbing it comfortingly or cover Aether’s hand with his own, squeezing in reassurance. He wouldn’t give any advice, and Aether appreciated him greatly for that. The traveller seldom asked for advice; he didn’t like placing that pressure on others. Sometimes, he just felt like screaming his dilemmas into the wind, watching them take flight far, far away.
He never told Kaeya about the loneliness, though.
Sure enough, however, Aether’s restlessness came back with a vengeance, and he felt the familiar urge to leave again. Amber looked downtrodden before treating him to some Sticky Honey Roast and giving him a good-bye hug, making Aether promise to give her more cooking lessons when he came back (he wasn’t sure if she’d improved at all, but he kept quiet). Jean wished him well and to stay vigilant on his trip. Kaeya ruffled the traveller’s hair with a mischievous smile but a knowing look in his eyes, or rather, eye. Diluc’s signature head nod to him was simple and curt, reminiscent of the man’s personality. Lisa pouted before teasing him and leaving him with a, “Don’t be a stranger, cutie~.”
He found Venti to be the hardest goodbye. They had grown close in their time together, and despite how much the bard felt like a second Paimon at times, Aether was quite fond of him. The traveller had found the god at their usual spot, seeming unusually contemplative. He sat down next to the green-clad figure, no words passing between them.
He nudged the bard with his elbow. Venti nudged back.
Back and forth they went before they broke out in a fit of giggles over how stupid they were being. Aether turned to him, laughing the remnants of his fit away before quieting down, not sure what to say. Venti looked back with a subdued twinkle in his eyes, though there was a melancholy there only Aether got to see. He could tell what the god was thinking. “Visit more often, okay?”
Aether had managed a small smile, “Yeah, I will. Sorry.”
Aside from his small epiphany that night on Yaoguang Shoal, nothing had really happened to him. Time dragged on at an agonizing pace. The days bled into each other; Aether could barely tell when one ended and another began. That lone night he’d spent gazing at the stars felt like months ago, and the last time he saw Childe felt even longer still.
He slowed his pace as he felt the familiar pang in his chest, which frequented him more these days. Leaning against the doorframe, he slipped down and gave a long sigh, pulling his knees to his chest and closing in on himself. Dang it.
Aether had it bad, and he had no idea how to deal with it.
When did it even start? Was it the first time he saw the ginger in action, effortlessly taking down those unfortunate Millelith guards? Maybe it developed somewhere along their tumultuous, barely-there friendship. Or perhaps it just revealed itself once the harbinger had left Liyue. Aether couldn’t tell. What he did know was that nothing would come out of it, so he shouldn’t start hoping for anything. Hope was dangerous. Hope was the point of no return.
Well, his brain might’ve decided that, but his heart was on an entirely different page, racing faster whenever he thought of the ginger, causing his face to flush with pink to the tips of his ears, filling him with a painful sense of longing. Ah— there it was; he could feel his cheeks burning already.
Aether buried his face in his hands and quietly groaned, as if that’d hide him from these treacherous thoughts. He had never dealt with feelings like these before. As far as he knew, his body was now betraying him as well, yearning for something he knew he couldn’t have.
“Just leave me alone, please… ”
The traveller was slowly suspecting that it’d be of no use. But he didn’t feel like thinking about the matter any longer. He’d done enough of that four weeks ago, and look where that had gotten him.
Undoing his braid, he ran his fingers through the blond strands, noticing how long they’d grown. He stared into the mirror across the bed. Aether was so used to the sight of his braided hair, having it down now looked weird. He’d donned the braided look ever since Lumine had styled it that way, exclaiming that it suited him better. She’d been muttering under her breath, pulling on the strands and tugging at his hair much to Aether’s discomfort. He could almost hear her complaining as she pulled out one of her hair clips and used it to tie his hair.
Aether glanced at the clip in his hand, the same one she’d given to him all those years ago.
A lump formed in his throat.
He willed the memory away. He couldn’t do this again. Not tonight.
Aether set the clip down, plucking a stray branch and a few leaves from his hair in the process.
His gauntlets came next after that, followed by his boots, cape, scarf, and finally his starconch necklace. He’d gotten the conch he picked up from the shoal fashioned into a chain by a Mondstadt jeweller. In retrospect, that was a good move on his wallet. Liyue markets seemed to charge a plethora of “complementary expenses” and “regional taxes”.
He held the conch, the silver chain dangling off the edge of his hand. He’d worn it almost daily, appreciating the additional weight around his neck, though he acknowledged that the pale blue of the conch clashed with the rest of his garb.
Aether didn’t care. He loved it. The conch was soothing to him and equally mysterious, like he could seal all of his problems, worries, and confusing feelings into it and toss it into the ocean, trusting them to flow away for all eternity. He ended up not doing that.
Placing the necklace down on the bedside table, he plopped down next to Paimon, the last of his energy escaping him after his impromptu thinking session. Turning to his side, he pulled Paimon close to him, using his scarf to wrap around her like a blanket. She stirred a little before snuggling into his chest, her snores resuming. The traveller sighed, absentmindedly twirling a lock of her hair through his fingers before drowsiness started setting in.
Images came to him: ginger locks, striking blue, and a tell-tale smile that seemed to reveal both everything and nothing. If he tried, he could almost imagine that smile was for him, lulling him into a deep slumber.
Aether closed his eyes and dreamed he was drowning.
____________________________________________________________________________
He awoke to the sound of banging.
Someone was banging on the traveller’s door at what must’ve been an ungodly hour in the morning.
Aether groaned and covered his ears before reluctantly getting up to investigate the psychopath, untangling himself from Paimon and wiping her drool off his shirt.
He really hoped it wasn’t the innkeeper. Aether needed to sleep in a real bed for at least one more night, regardless of how much his wallet cried in protest. Though, who else could it be? Nobody that he knew of came to mind.
He mumbled to himself bitterly, hoping whoever it was at the door would at least have the decency to overlook his bedhead and unkempt appearance.
The traveller made his way to the entrance, the banging finally subsiding. He turned the knob, yawning as he did so.
“...yes, who is i—”
Ginger.
Ginger locks, striking blue, and a tight smile.
Aether blinked.
Well.
It wasn’t the innkeeper.
The man before him hesitated a little, eyeing Aether’s dishevelled hair and lingering on his exposed stomach before seeming to remember how to speak. He awkwardly coughed and lifted his hand in a small wave:
“Hey.”
If Aether wasn’t awake before, he definitely was now.
“...Childe?”
The ginger smirked, though it looked a little uncanny.
“Forget about me already, blondie?”
“Uh.”
Aether’s eloquent response was a result of his brain and heart simultaneously going into overdrive. He was caught between the very conflicting desires of: forget everything and kiss the ginger into oblivion until they fell off the balcony, slap the crap out of him for the sheer audacity, or just slamming the door and never dealing with anything ever again.
Aether did not do any of that. What he did do was stand there dumbfounded, unsure of how to proceed with this plot twist.
Childe stared, probably realizing that was the end of Aether’s contribution to the conversation. He attempted a laugh, but it came out strange and off-putting.
“Well, I hope you didn’t forget about my promise, at least. You should know why I’m here then.”
Aether's mind halted in its self-combustion and concentrated on Childe’s words. He did remember, and he had hoped that Childe would fulfill that promise. Now that the ginger was actually here, though…
“Uh, no, I do remember, it’s just that...um…”, What was he even supposed to say here?
“You remember. Good.”
The traveller’s hair immediately stood on end. There was a raw edge to Childe’s voice, something dangerously close to revealing itself, barely-contained by a carefree composure.
Observing him more closely, Aether noticed the ginger was inexplicably...off. His eyes had a wild undercurrent, almost veering into the crazed category. His fingers kept thrumming against his thigh as if attempting to release some pent-up energy. The tension in his posture— the stiffness in his smile:
Childe was holding himself back.
“The Golden House. Meet me there.”
Seemingly losing the patience to keep up the pleasantries of normal conversation, Childe spoke in fragments, his desire for battle bleeding into his tone. Before the traveller’s brain could provide him with something meaningful, really anything in response, the ginger turned, making his way towards the stairs before abruptly stopping with his back to Aether, voice low and unexpectedly wavering.
“Don’t keep me waiting.”
And he was gone.
Aether blinked, feeling like the universe had decided to dump all of his karma on him at that moment. One question floated around in the mess that was currently his thoughts:
What the hell just happened?