Chapter Text
Lumine shoulders the door open, carefully balancing her phone and coffee while keeping the device raised to her face, “I’m in.”
“Good,” Albedo’s face swerves out of sight for a second and Lumine hears the sounds of another door opening. “Light switches are to your left, power should be on but flick them on just to be safe.”
Dragging her bag inside, Lumine moves over to give their partners space to come in from the cold. Ganyu and Ayaka aren’t shivering like she is, blessed with Cryo visions and enough sense to pack actual jackets. When they manage to find the switch, Lumine flicks it on with a small cheer and bathes the cabin in light.
“We have light!” She lets out a soft sigh as the door clicks shut and the warmth of the place finally starts to sink into her skin, “and heat!”
“That was my next question,” there’s a hint of amusement on Albedo’s face, “that should be everything. Call me back if there’s anything you need.”
“Bye, have fun with my sibling, tell him to wear a real shirt,” Lumine rapid fires these last few words at Albedo before hanging up and tucking the phone into her pocket, eager to explore. The cabin is spacious, really more of a house save for the rustic decor and out of the way location. They were owned by Albedo’s mentor apparently, a word the man had tripped over at first, but he had offered to take Aether and Lumine up to stay in them for a couple of days, with the offer extended to their partners.
Now they were here, about an hour off the main road through Dragonspine and nestled away in a glamorous cottage with wide windows overlooking the valley below. Ganyu stands at the windows, framed in the white light as she peers outside.
“This is wonderful,” she says, laughing when Lumine skips over and wraps their arms around her waist, “I’ve never been to Dragonspine before, it’s so beautiful.”
“And cold,” Lumine whines, burying her face in Ganyu’s soft hair.
Ayaka laughs delicately and Lumine spies her standing by the fireplace looking at a couple of pictures set on the mantle. From this distance, they seem to be photos of Albedo and a young girl in a ruby red dress, probably the little sister Aether had mentioned.
The old phone on the far wall rings suddenly, breaking the gentle silence. The three of them exchange a look, all having assumed that it was purely for decoration had it not erupted into noise.
Lumine walks over and picks up the receiver, “hello?”
“Lumi~!” Venti’s voice sings over the line and she can almost imagine them twirling the cord around their finger, “how are you guys doing over there? All settled in?”
“Admiring the view first, Ayaka and Ganyu have never been up here before,” Lumine inspects the rest of the phone, running their finger along a faded sticky note that said ‘only connected to cabin 2’.
“It’s nice, isn’t it,” There’s a hint of pride in Venti’s voice that makes Lumine smile. Reject it as they might, Venti would always carry aspects of Barbatos with them.
“How’s Aether?” She asks, changing the subject before Venti starts to think too hard about bygone days, “is he freaking out yet?”
“Oh yes,” Venti glances over their shoulder to where Aether was pacing along the windows. The blonde was doing their best to look casual, but it was quite obvious that anxiety had taken over. When Aether approached them with this plan, Venti had been equal parts nervous and eager. Albedo and Aether had only recently starting consider themselves a couple, and now to be together in a small house with ones other partner? It was a fast step.
“Poor thing,” from their voice, Venti assumes Lumine is thinking the same thing. “Here’s hoping everything goes well.”
“That’s what I’m here for!” The bard lowers their voice, “damage control. Oh, and I hope you darlings brought games or something. There’s a blizzard on the wind.”
She groans, “really?”
“Would I lie to you about the weather?”
“No,” a pause, “can you do anything about it?”
“Not anymore,” Venti chirps, then a glance over their shoulder tells them to wrap the conversation up, “gotta go, Aether’s looking a bit pale.” They set the receiver back on the stand and pivot to face their partner. Aether has stopped pacing and is now standing in the open plan kitchen staring into space, honey-gold eyes a thousand light-years away. Albedo is nowhere to be seen, but he had mentioned running out to a shed to make sure there was enough gas to keep the heat on if everything else went down.
Venti sidles up to Aether’s side, “you’re right, the false wood paneling on the walls really is interesting. Really ties the room together.”
Aether starts, “huh? What are you talking about?”
“Well you were staring at the wall so I figured I’d join in,” they tap one finger against their lips, “the wood paneling really sells the cabin aesthetic but I think something brighter would help to open up the room.”
“I’m really confused,” in the stress of the situation Venti’s joke had gone over the other's head, “why are you talking about the wallpaper?”
They sigh, “you were staring into space, sunshine, I was making a joke to try and cheer you up.”
“Oh.”
“What’s brewing in that head of yours?” Venti reaches out and brushes Aether’s bangs back from his face, “I’m really good at calming storms.”
“I feel like I’ve run headfirst into something really sudden,” Aether admits, reaching up to tangle their fingers with Venti’s, “It’s been, what, two weeks since we officially started going out? This is really fast, isn’t it?”
“Well, that depends on what you’re expecting to happen here,” Venti adjusts their hands to run their thumb across his knuckles. “Just because you’re here in a house with him doesn’t mean you guys need to have sex or be all over each other. Maybe that will happen, maybe it won’t. You can just interact like you always do, there's no need to try and force things.”
Aether sighs, the tension draining out of their shoulders, “thank you, Venti, that actually helped a lot.”
Venti takes his face in their hands and kisses the tip of their nose, “that’s my job! Now, do you think they’ve got hot chocolate here?”
“Hot chocolates in the pantry,” Albedo appears in the doorway, shaking snow from his ashy hair, “second shelf from the bottom.”
“Fantastic!” Venti beelines for the pantry in question, “Albedo, do you want some? I know Aether does.”
“Sure,” the alchemist takes a seat at the island that acts as a half barrier between kitchen and living room, “you mentioned a blizzard earlier, when do you think it’s going to hit?”
Venti is quiet for a moment before they turn, eyes glinting pale green, “we’ve got about an hour. Now, do you have whipped cream?”