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"Look over there, Aether! There's probably lots of big fish there with that big ripple!" Paimon pulled the blond's scarf excitedly.
Aether just laughed softly as he walked towards the lake where Paimon's looking at, eyes shining at the thought of finally having fish pets and not just cats and dogs who keeps on breaking his vases.
He still loves them though.
He hummed, staring at the ripple thoughtfully, "There's probably more than enough fish there. Do you want me to catch some for dinner, Paimon?"
The blond laughs upon seeing his little companion's eyes widened, he immediately put his hand over her mouth, scared at the probability that her squeals of excitement would scare the fishes.
"Alright, alright, calm down now, Paimon. Don't be too loud, you'll scare them away."
Paimon just scratched her head before sitting underneath the shade of the tree near them. Watching as her friend took his fishing rod out of his inventory and starts fishing, "Paimon's gonna wait for Aether over here."
The blond turned his head to his companion to nod before returning his attention back to his fishing rod.
For the past two hours, the only sound that can be heard within the area where the two decided to fish was the sound of the blond traveler's frustrated grunt when some of the fishes managed to escaped.
In his frustration, he cast the rod forward aggressively, upon feeling that something was tugging the string, he immediately tried to reel in the slack. He ignores the fact that what he caught is much heavier than some of the fish that he encountered earlier. Thinking that it must be a new kind of fish.
Imagine his shock when the thing that came out of the lake was not a fish but instead a spluttering man.
"What in the–" Paimon, who's been sleeping while Aether's fishing, immediately responded to her companion's distressed voice. Eyes widening upon seeing an unknown man spluttering in front of them.
The blond and his floating companion looked at each other in panic before rushing towards the man in concern.
A piercing blue eyes looked at them with utter annoyance and contempt, "Who dares to pull this illustrious one's hair and disturb their rest?"
Paimon gaped, "You–you're resting?! You're technically beneath the water?!"
The other man was looking at them boredly while he was fixing his messy hair, "And?"
"You're drowning?!"
The man frowned, eyes twitching in annoyance before crossing his arms to his chest, "And?"
Paimon and Aether looked at each other, confused and clearly panicking.
"Not even an apology? Mortals these days... too arrogant."
The blond felt miserable upon hearing the first words from the other man, not planning to acknowledge what the next thing that the other murmured.
It's not like his actions are intentional! How should he know that there's someone there! Why are they even sleeping there?!
Crying mentally, he looked at the taller man, the other just raised an elegant brow before turning away from him.
He sighs, "Please listen to me. I want to apologise."
"Apologise?" The annoyed blue haired man in front of him sneers. "What could possibly be the reason for the Hero of Mondstadt and Liyue to apologize to this lowly one?"
Paimon's indignant yell of, "Hey!", was ignored by the two man.
Now that Aether's done panicking with the fact that he caught a slumbering person while fishing. The more he looked at the other man, if you ignore the glares and sneers, he's actually very pretty. The blue of his hair looks rather similar to that cloud-liked candy that he and his sister used to eat in their own world, while his eyes... his eyes are so pretty. They're blue like the a deep ocean when they're frozen. Such beautiful icy blue eyes...
The blond's eyes widened, covering his warm face with his hands, trying to keep the other man from seeing his flushed cheeks.
"I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to pull your hair and disturb your sleep! Please forgive me!"
Calm down, Aether! You just met the other man! Just because he's pretty–
He heard the other sighed, "Fine, cease your tears. This humble one shall forgive the totally unwilling apology from such well-known hero. Even though you clearly forced yourself to apologize, this humble one–"
What? The nerve of this gorgeous man?!
Just because you're outrageously beautiful that doesn't mean you're allowed to be a jerk!
The taller man probably thought that he's crying when he covers his face with his hands and just accepted the apology out of pity.
“I am not forcing myself,” He said indignantly, lowering his hands to his cheeks to glare weakly at the other man.
He saw how the other's jaw tightened, anger flashing in his eyes after getting interrupted.
Aether completely removed his hands from his face, showing the other man his flushing cheeks. And to his amazement, the other's eyes widened before he coughs and turned his body away from him.
"There's no need for you to cry anymore. This humble one has already forgiven you. I must admit that, I'm at fault too." The other man sighed, leaning his face to his hand, staring at him thoughtfully before coughing awkwardly, "One's tears are as precious as gems, they shouldn't be wasted over this silly argument between us."
The blond tried to keep himself from smiling at the awkwardness of the other or else the bluenette male would probably become mad again. Paimon, who had been ignored since the start of the kind-of argument yelled, "Stop ignoring Paimon!"
Aether laughed helplessly, ruffling the pouting fairy's hair, trying to distract her, "I probably caught enough fish to exchange with the Fishing Association, it's probably enough for our dinner too."
The fairy's pout had been replaced by a large smile upon hearing the word, "dinner", pulling the blond's sleeves happily, "Let's go home now, Aether! Oooh Paimon's excited!"
But instead of leaving immediately, Aether looked at the blue-haired man who's watching the lake silently.
"Can I know your name?"
The blond watched the other flinched as if he already forgot that there's still people near him, eyes becoming defensive for a second before he sighs and looked at him warily, "What's it to you?"
Aether doesn't have any time for that, he wants the other's name and he will get it. He stared at the other man intensely, waiting for him to just give up and say his name. The two of the stared at each other for a short moment.
The other just sighed, defeated, "...you may call me Oz."
He smiled, glad that he finally know what to address the other man or else he'll probably just call him, "Pretty Guy", in his mind.
He can already imagine accidentally calling the other, "Pretty Guy", while talking to him... how embarrassing.
He was about to respond and introduce himself, when his companion's giggles caught his attention.
"Paimon!"
"Is there any need for this disrespect, little one? Is this illustrious one's name that laughable to you?" Oz's elegant brows was twitching in annoyance as he looked at the giggling little fairy companion of the blond traveler.
Seriously? The nerve of these mortals, Osial thought annoyedly.
Paimon just grinned, looking at the male bluenette with a look filled with amusement, "Now, now, calm down! Paimon didn't mean to laugh! It's just you have the same name as our friend's summon!"
The contempt on the man's face lessened, raising an eyebrow at them in curiosity, "A summon?"
The two nodded gleefully at the blue-haired man, "Uh-huh! Our friend from Mondstadt, Fischl, her summon's name is Oz too! That's why Paimon laughs when you told us your name!"
The blond watched how the contempt completely vanished from the taller man's face and was replaced by a proud look, "This humble one is glad to know that mortals these days still knows how to give a good name to their belongings."
Aether laughs helplessly, "Are people these days too stupid for you?"
The blonde thought the other would respond, but the other man see seemed quite done with their conversation. And since the blond finally got what he needed, he left the place with his companion floating excitedly beside him. Intending to return tomorrow.
For the past few weeks, Aether and Paimon keeps on returning to the place where they met the mysterious blue-haired man, Oz. At first, he keeps on ignoring the two of them, no matter what they say, it was always ignored. But after being pestered 24/7, he finally started contributing to their conversation.
Everytime they arrived at that location, Oz was always there to greet them with an annoyed expression and a grumpy, "Why are two you here again?". Honestly, it always amuses the two no matter how many times the question was repeated.
But other than his grumpy greetings, they also both noticed that he's started to treat them much better than their first meeting. He's getting softer and softer the more they spend time with him.
That's not the only thing that Paimon noticed.
The more they bond with the bluenette male, the more that Paimon notices the faint and subtle glances that the two keeps giving each other when the other is not looking.
She noticed that Aether's been acting weirder and weirder each day. He used to be quite composed and quiet, but now, he's always talking about whether Oz will like this, Oz will like that, does Oz know about this, etc.
"Suspicious," the little fairy whispered watching her companion blushed furiously when the taller man held his waist to keep him from falling into the lake.
They didn't noticed it at first, but after returning to that lake day-to-day, they finally noticed that the amount of fish in the lake keeps on increasing.
The two of them are used to constantly moving around since there are times that they won't even catch a single fish in a few lakes that they come across.
But as usual the two just ignores it, thinking that maybe it was just normal and there's no need to be worried.
Day 1.
"We're back, Mr. Oz!"
"...Why are you here?"
"Hey! It's not like Paimon and Aether's here for you! We're just here to fish!"
"Hmph. Don't bother me then."
Day 3.
"I guess... I'll just–you know... fish here?"
"Is this illustrious one your mother?"
"No–"
"Then there's no need for you to ask me for any permission."
Day 7.
"Can you please cease your moans? This humble one can't sleep peacefully with all those loud noises that you're doing."
"W–what?! I'm not moaning!"
"Then what do you call those noises? If you're truly frustrated then please take it somewhere else."
"You...!"
Day 11.
"...what's this?"
"Oooh! Oooh! Paimon knows! It's a crystal chunk!"
"Thank you for that answer, Paimon. But what I meant to ask is, what's this for?"
"Well..."
"Aether says it reminds him of the color of your mhhhffftt–"
"The color of my what?"
"T–the color of your hair! It's the color of your hair! When I saw that crystal, it suddenly reminds me of your hair!"
"Oh. Is that so? I don't think its color is similar to my hair. But still, thank you, dear one."
"That's not what you said earlier, Aether."
"Shut up, Paimon. Or else I'll feed you to that Primo Geovishap we saw earlier."
Day 14.
"Glaze Lily? Why are you giving me this, Aether?"
"I–I think the flower quite resembles you, Oz."
"Really? How so?"
"Aether says its blue color and prettiness–"
"Shut up, Paimon. Anyway, just like what Paimon said, it's very pretty and its blue parts reminds me of you."
"You think I'm pretty?"
"I–That's–"
"I'm just teasing, my dear. Thank you for your thoughtfulness."
Day 17.
"My, my, the two of you are injured again. Don't you have any healers that can help you with those?"
"We do! But Aether really, really wants to see you as soon as we finished our last commission!"
"Paimon you–"
"Ah, is that so? Then, please let this humble one help you with your injuries."
"Where are you headed next?" Oz asked the two softly, wrapping bandages on Paimon's arm carefully.
The fairy-like creature gives out an excited cheer, "Liyue! We're planning to visit a close friend of ours before we head out to Inazuma again."
Aether would have missed it if he wasn't paying attention, but there's a little bit of sadness that appears in the taller man's icy-blue eyes, "Be safe on your way then."
It seems like the blond was not the only one who noticed the subtle change of mood of the blue-haired man, the two companions subtly looked at each other before Paimon suddenly jumped towards the other man's lap, "Oooh! Why don't you join us, Oz!"
"Join you?"
"Yeah! Paimon thinks you and Zhongli would easily get along! Right, Aether?" The blond immediately nods to support his companion. Thinking that Zhongli and Oz would definitely get along since they both like rocks.
A beautiful man like him shouldn't be sad, Aether thought resolutely.
Oz stares at him thoughtfully, humming gently, before smiling and uttering a soft, "Very well".
To make their journey to Liyue much quicker but still interesting, they decided to teleport to a waypoint near the Liyue Harbor. Everytime they encountered something on their way, Paimon and Aether are always excited to share some interesting facts that they knew to the fascinated bluenette male. There's always a fond hair ruffle whenever they shared something new to the taller male, which causes the two companions to compete. Whoever gets more ruffles from Oz, would be the one to choose what they would eat for dinner that day.
Just like as Aether expected, Paimon won.
Upon arriving at the harbor, the two pulled the chuckling Oz, towards the place where they would meet with Zhongli.
The citizens' reaction towards Oz is quite funny and interesting but a little bit of an annoyance too, in the blond's opinion.
Aether spent a few weeks beside him, he knew more than anyone that the bluenette male is a devastatingly beautiful man. With his soft blue hair, gentle icy-blue eyes, tall and slender form? He wouldn't be surprised that after this, the taller man would be surrounded by men and women who wants to court him.
Well, it's not like they actually would be notice by the bluenette male.
Upon arriving at the meeting place, instead of the usually gentle smile from Zhongli, what they got was a wary and defensive look from the previous Geo Archon.
Zhongli frowned, gazing at Oz carefully, "Aether... are you aware of the identity of that man beside you?"
The blond just blinked before turning to the frowning blue-haired man beside him, "Why...?"
"The man beside you is Osial. An ancient god and the sea monster that you defeated months ago alongside with the adepti and Liyue Qixing."
Aether's eyes widened, turning to his friendly in surprised. Oz was the three-headed sea monster that nearly drowned the entirety of Liyue?
Oz, or is it actually Osial now? Osial was just looking at Zhongli annoyedly, as if he's just one step away from punting the previous Geo Archon.
The atmosphere between the two gods is pretty weird in the blond's opinion. Aether can see that despite the wariness in Zhongli's eyes, there's still some gentleness and a little bit of longing in his gaze as he looked at his fellow god. While in Osial's case, the only emotion that he can perfectly decipher in his eyes are bone-deep exhaustion.
Are they close to each other before? The blond wonders sourly.
The bluenette male just pursed his lips in annoyance before turning his body away from the other god, fully intending to ignore the Geo god. "Let's leave now, Aether. Talking to this buffoon is useless."
"How did you manage to escape?"
"The ocean does not like to be restrained." Osial stated, cold eyes gazing furiously at the blazing amber eyes of the other god before clenching his fists in frustration.
He laughs mockingly at the fellow god, "How naive. If I was the one that they actually fought at that time and not my avatar, your beloved Liyue is probably underneath the ocean by now."
Aether pursed his lips, wondering if they should do something.
"I'm tired of following you, Morax." He sighed softly, "Tired of trying to catch up to you. And tired of looking at your back, hoping that maybe someday we could walk side by side."
The blond's eyes shook upon hearing the sadness in the man's voice, he wrapped an arm around the taller man's stiff arm. Smiling faintly upon seeing Paimon wrapping her arms around the bluenette male's neck to comfort him.
Zhongli's amber eyes widened, looking at them with surprised, confused as to why both Aether and Paimon are comforting the other god, "You're not–"
"I'm not going to follow you anymore. This time, I'll be the one walking ahead. No more catching up for me and no more looking back for you." He gazed at Zhongli's eyes resolutely, "There's no need for you to wait for me anymore, Morax."
Aether gasped when Osial suddenly grabbed his hand, "Don't worry. This lowly one doesn't have any interest on your subjects. My mind is clearer than before, there's no reason for me to drown your beloved Liyue now."
The "Let's go, Aether", was uttered quietly by the taller man as he pulled the blond towards the teleport waypoint. As much as the blond enjoys this, there's still lots of things that they need to talk about.
But before he could even ask the sullen god, he just realized something.
"...wait. Since you're the ancient god of the ocean, does that mean you're actually the reason why there's lots of fish in that lake?"
"Who knows..."
"Wait! Wait! Paimon wants to know something! How did you manage to escape Zhongli's sealing?" Paimon wrapped her tiny arms around the bluenette male's neck.
Osial just smiled, eyes soft as if someone lifted the heavy baggage that he's been carrying for many years, "That's for me to know and you to find out."
It looks like the ancient god was amused by the little fairy's annoyance as he patted her head and pinched her tiny cheeks.
Aether knows that there's still lots of secrets that he needs to uncover before he'd be considered as a trusted person by the bluenette male. Despite of the knowledge that this innocent looking man was the reason that Liyue nearly drowned at that time, the blond can't imagine the other man having some kind of motivation to do it.
He's kind of lazy and acts like a young master of a rich family but he's also one of the most caring person that he ever met–
The blond sighs, he's probably being biased or what... just because he has a little bit of crush at that gorgeous man...
The blond looked at the taller man's back and thought, "There's still lots of time. We got a large amount of time to uncover your secrets."
And it seems like the other man can hear the blond's thoughts because he suddenly spoke, "Time... uncovering my secrets will take time, do you think you got the patience for it, Aether?"
Aether just smiled, "My journey's still quite long, I'm willing to wait until you feel comfortable enough with sharing your past."
"Yeah! Paimon and Aether's willing to wait for you to tell your story, Osial!"
Osial laughed softly, "Very well."