Chapter Text
Today was supposed to be his free day. With such fair weather, he can spend his time doing nothing. No commissions, no artifacts hunting, no treasure hunting, just a simple day that he could relax all day.
But it seems like fate has something against him.
"Are you alright?" Aether asked the unknown woman concernedly, running his eyes around her harried form to check if there's any injuries on her body after getting attack by a group of hillichurls.
How convenient... Hillichurls suddenly appearing and attacking someone while he's around the area. It's not uncommon but there's just something weird with this attack.
Something inside of him is itching to push the blame on his twin sister. He doesn't know why but his instincts are screaming at him that Lumine's the one behind this hillichurl infestation.
He just shook his head at the silly idea, thinking that he probably just missed Lumine's presence.
He looked at the woman that he saved and offered his hand to help her stand up.
Somewhere in the deepest part of the Abyss, a blonde young woman was busy glaring at the shivering Cryo mage in front of her.
"I've told you multiple times to send a Ruin Guard on his way, do you think my brother is as pathetic as you lots that he can't even fight a useless scrap of metal...?"
The pathetically crying mage started flailing his arms around, trying to calm their seething leader, "B–but your highness!!! The citizens around that area could end up in danger if we release a Ruin Guard!"
Lumine just stared blankly at the mage, "Then release it somewhere it could cause destruction without endangering human lives! Aether's always walking around, there's always a great possibility of him encountering it."
"B–but!!!"
The blonde young woman's eyebrow twitched upon realizing something, "Don't tell me... so that's why a few hillichurls seemed to be missing. You've sent them to my brother without my permission."
Seeing that their ruler's about to unleash her anger towards him, the mage started screaming and running away, "Please have mercy, Your Highness!"
"Why are you running? Stay still you little–"
The other mages near the throne room just flinched upon hearing the frightened screeching from their fellow mage.
The woman waved her hands to dismiss his worries, bowing her head gratefully, completely flustered at the concern that the pretty boy infront of her gives her, "No, no! There's no need to be worried!"
Aether tilts his head to the side, staring at the woman thoughtfully. The fairy-like creature floating beside him crossed her arms to her chest, "But Paimon saw the hillichurl hit your back! You should tell us if you're hurt! That way we can escort you to a healer!"
The blond cringed upon remembering the solid smack that the woman received from the hillichurl. That must've been painful, the blond thought.
The woman seems quite embarrassed, there's a sheepish grin on her face as she rubbed the part that has been hit by the hillichurl. They expected her to relent and let them help her one more time but she just shook her head, "It's just a small bruise. Believe me. But still... thank you for your concerns."
Finding it extremely adorable that the two was concerned with her, she mentally squealed and tried her best not to glomp the two. Not gonna lie, it was such a tough battle.
Deeming the woman's smile as genuine, the two finally relented, "If you're sure..." Paimon muttered before floating towards the barrels that had been abandoned by the fleeing hillichurls to investigate its contents.
Feeling awkward at the worshipping gaze of that woman, Aether smiled helplessly, "I guess, I'll just pick the masks that those hillichurls left. If you want us to escort you back to your home, you can always call me or Paimon over there. Oh, before I forgot, my name's Aether."
The woman's eyes seems to be shining as she stares at the awkward blond, "You guys are just sweet! There's no need to escort me, Aether! I'll be leaving in a minute since I just lived nearby but first let me give you these puddings as thanks! The one with the frills is for your little companion, while the simple one is yours."
Upon hearing that the lady was going to give them something, Paimon immediately left the barrel that she's inspecting and floated towards where the lady and Aether was standing.
"Ooooh! Thank you!" Paimon cheers.
The lady handed them two boxes that the blond immediately accepted, handing the box with frills to his excited companion. When Aether shot the woman a befuddled look she just smiled and winked at him.
After that, the woman left and the two decided to head towards the tavern to eat the reward from the woman.
But before the two could enter the tavern, Amber suddenly appears and invited Paimon for some kind of girl bonding.
Aether just nodded at his companion and watched fondly as she got whisked away from him by a grinning outrider.
As soon as he entered the tavern, he walked towards the counter and ordered a simple drink first before choosing a table near the counter.
"Mmm! Delicious...!" The moment he took a bite, Aether resists the urge to moan as the sweet taste of the pudding enters his taste buds. He took no notice of the loud laughter from some of the patrons as he devoured the whole pudding blissfully.
"This pudding is definitely in a class of its own," The blond exclaimed as he swallowed the last bit of the pudding before patting his belly in contentment.
Now that he's done eating and quite thirsty at the moment, he roamed his eyes around to look at the people around him while he waits for his drink to come. His golden eyes widened upon seeing a familiar tall blond man sitting at the secluded corner a few tables away from him.
Aether immediately walked towards the other man, smiling widely, "Is that you, Dainsleif?!"
The look on the other man's face was priceless, his sea-blue eyes widened in surprise and mouth gaping, staring at Aether in a way that amused the smaller blond to no end.
Aware that he's being laughed at, Dainsleif flushed in embarrassment before coughing. He looked at the amused Aether, "It's been a while, Aether. It's still daytime, why are you here in the tavern?"
The smaller blond smiled, subtly looking at the other man's body. Relieved that he seem to be healthy and uninjured despite the fact that the last time he saw the taller blond was when Lumine teleported with that Abyss Herald and this mysterious man followed them. After all, he knew how vicious his sister can be when she puts her mind to it.
"Today is our first ever free day. I'm just here to eat the pudding that some lady that I saved earlier gave us."
Dainsleif just smiled at Aether. Quite surprised that the other has some kind of free day since he's quite persistent on his quest to look for his twin.
The taller blond smiled wryly, "His twin who's actually the current leader of the Abyss Order."
"It was really delicious. Such a pity that I ate it all, I'm willing to let you have a taste. It was really delicious!"
Finding the smaller blond's generosity quite adorable, the taller blond laughs fondly. Now, he can fully understand why Lumine was quite desperate to look for Aether when he first met her.
His charm truly is quite dangerous. No sane man can resist that.
"Not only it tastes delicious, it smells delicious too. I wonder if it's okay if I ask that lady for the pudding's recipe."
Dainsleif hums, "It must be really delicious. Even now, I can still smell its sweet scent." He wonders as he took a sip of his drink.
Aether looked at taller man blankly, "What scent?"
The smaller blond tilts his head to the side as he looked at the other man.
Dainsleif frowns, looking at the smaller blond sitting in front of him, "What? You can't smell it?" The taller blond sniffs the air before stiffening, "That sweet smell comes from... from you, Aether...?"
Aether just blinked, "I'm not wearing any perfume today though..."
The taller blond bit his lips, eyes narrowed as he tried to explain to the other blond what the scent that he's smelling at the moment, "No. Not like that. It–It makes me want to touch you..."
Aether blushed furiously upon hearing that, looking at the frowning man shyly. But he's starting to become concern about the sweet scent that the other was smelling from him.
"Something strange is happening... I can't seem to take my eyes off you." Dainsleif flushed, starting to become aware of the embarrassing things that he's saying, "What's wrong with me?"
At the counter, Diluc narrowed his eyes while looking at the secluded corner of the tavern. Upon seeing Aether talking to an unknown and suspicious guy, Diluc immediately finished the drink that the blond orders and walked towards the two of them.
"Here's your drink, Aeth–where's that scent coming from...?"
The redhead's eyes met Aether's golden ones and he froze, "It's coming from you...?"
Aether bewildered and quite confused now, inspected the box container of the pudding. His eyes widened upon seeing a strip of paper underneath the tiny plate.
Ignoring the glaring males surrounding him, he reads the paper aloud.
The Feromoni Spice Pudding contains ingredients that are too stimulating for mortals (note: let's just say that since Aether's powers are sealed, he's more of a human right now). Eating this pudding may cause excess production of pheromones that potential mates will find irresistible.
Only potential mates can smell the pheromones of the one who ate the pudding.
The excess pheromone production would last for 24 hours.
Aether resisted the urge to cry, wondering why these kind of things keeps on happening to him. While Dainsleif looked at the smaller blond with concern.
"That is most concerning..." Dainsleif mutters to himself.
While Diluc, whose face was fully flushed, stared at the smaller blond intensely as he licked his lips, "Aether..."
Noticing that there's something weird happening to him, the redhead's eyes widened in panic before slamming Aether's drink on the table, glaring at the Dainsleif before saying, "I'm sorry, Aether. It seems like I need to get away from you or else I'll do something that I may or may not regret."
The redhead immediately ran away, appointing a bewildered Charles to be the person in charge of the tavern for the day.
Aether looked tearfully at Dainsleif. The taller blond patted his head to comfort the other.
"What was that? It seems like Master Diluc was in a rush to leave..."
Upon hearing the familiar smooth voice of the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius, Aether's body stiffened. He turned to face the man hesitantly and immediately cringed when he saw how Kaeya's face started flushing the moment he came near them.
"...! This sweet scent..."
Dainsleif immediately hid the smaller blond behind his back, recognizing the other man but is not willing to think about anything at the moment other than protecting Aether.
"I'm sorry but I'm asking you to stay away from Aether."
Kaeya's eyes narrowed furiously before shaking his head to clear his mind, "...Fine. Keep him safe then..."
Dainsleif clenched his fist, staring at the blue haired man resolutely, "Of course."
Kaeya, despite his hesitant to leave Aether to some random suspicious guy who seems quite familiar for some reason, ran away immediately as if there's a spinning Ruin Guard running after him.
Aether bit his lips, staring at the other blond, "What should we do now...?"
He mentally sobbed, wondering which God did he anger this time for him to be punished like this.
"And this was supposed to be my free day... " The blond thought while glaring at the sky.
Dainsleif tries to hide the smaller blond in his long cape while they exit the tavern, planning to take Aether away from Mondstadt since it's filled with people. Knowing that if potential mates caught a whiff of the smaller blond's scent, they would probably try to do anything to get the poor blond.
"We can't stay here. We need to go somewhere with less peop–"
"Oh, there you are, Aether. I've been looking for you since–oh...? What is this smell? Is this coming from you, Aether?"
Aether's eyes widened in panic upon seeing Albedo's eyes darkened, "Such a wonderful smell... why don't you join me for my experiments for today, Aether?"
The blond shivers as he watched the blond alchemist walked menacingly towards him.
"Stop! Don't get too close!" Dainsleif immediately placed himself between the two smaller blonds, trying to keep Albedo from walking towards Aether.
The smaller blond's golden eyes widened in fear upon seeing Albedo's weapon materializing. Not wanting to fight the other blond, Aether pulled Dainsleif's cape to get his attention.
"Let's just run, Dain!"
Dainsleif pursed his lips upon hearing that helpless request, totally willing to fight the alchemist in front of him. He glares at the furious Albedo, "I won't let you touch him."
After saying that, Dainsleif used his Abyss powers and teleported him and Aether away from Mondstadt.
The smaller blond shook his head to remove the dizziness from the unstable teleportation.
"We should be safe for now. I have a hidden house here, we can hide you there until the effects of that pudding ended," The taller blond stated, looking at the smaller blond softly, "Don't worry, Aether. I'll keep you safe."