Work Text:
Aether was on his way to the Yashiro Commision headquarters to seek out Thoma since the fixer had kindly offered to show him around the place during his rare free time when he overheard two of the Yashiro representative's conversations that pricked up his ears.
“We have people like that to thank for the decline of the samurai spirit in this day and age. If you’re just gonna schmooze your way through every problem in life, you might as well put your blade on the scrap heap. It’s like everything- use it or lose it!”
“What do you think Miss Kamisato even sees in that guy?”
Aether was shocked and fuming but before he could respond to the two, he heard familiar footsteps coming behind him followed by a yawn.
“Sorry, I haven't slept too well the last couple of days on account of all this rain we’ve been having.” Thoma greeted the young blonde groggily as he rubbed the tiredness from his eyes.
“Oh? Did something happen?” Thoma asked more alert when he saw the two elder men in front of him along with Aether’s tense expression.
“Hmph…we're just having a little chat on our break. It’s time we were going- there’s still lots to do. We’re busy people, Thoma. You’d do well to grow a sense of urgency,too.” The man huffed with an annoyed expression on his face as he looked at Thoma in disgust.
Despite being talked down on, the cheerful young man just smiled at them,ignoring their words.
“Thank you gentleman. I’ll think about that when my vacation’s over.”
The two Yashiro representatives just tsk’d at him in disapproval before finally leaving both him and Aether alone.
“Sorry about coming late, Aether, something came up.” Thoma apologetically said to Aether once they were both left alone.
“You heard everything…didn’t you?” Aether quizzed the elder blonde as the two representatives weren't actually subtle with their back talking and Thoma is pretty sharp to have pieced together that something was off with the atmosphere to have noticed his own discomfort between the two men before him.
“Yep…I sure did.” Thoma gave a weak chuckle, embarrassed that the hero of Inazuma had to hear of such things from his own comrades.
“No big deal, though. People like to criticise those who don’t fit in. It’s the same everywhere.” Thoma rushed in when he saw Aether frowning in concern.
“As long as it doesn’t bring down the Kamisato Clan, some harmless gossip would be fine. Wouldn’t you agree?” He looked at Aether expectantly.
Aether just looked aghast at him. He couldn’t believe that Thoma was just letting other people talk down on him and think of him as being a lowly being compared to them just for being a housekeeper and think that he doesn’t do anything but look pretty. He was absolutely fuming for his newfound friend.
“Sorry, I can’t say I agree.” Aether said sternly, his face pinched, brows furrowed and fist clenched by his sides, containing the burning urge to hunt down the two men and give them a piece of his mind.
Thoma’s eyes widened in surprise at Aether’s response. “Oh?”
“We should tell them how much you do for the Commission.” Aether insisted.
“I’m touched that that’s how you see the situation.” Thoma smiled brightly as he smacked his fist into his palm in realisation.
“I don’t think we need to go down that route,though…in any case, as a housekeeper, it’s hardly my place to get all high and mighty with other staff in the Yashiro Commission.” He hummed in thought.
“But you’re my guest and I live to serve, so if you have some thoughts on the matter, please do share them with me. I’m willing to give anything you suggest a shot- as long as it’s a serious suggestion, of course.”
Aether pondered on how to let everyone know how hard Thoma worked and to acknowledge his efforts and contribution to the Yashiro Commission, when suddenly an idea popped into his head.
“Why don’t you start a housekeeping class?” Aether suggested to Thoma after a bit of thinking. “Then everyone would know how hard it is you work everyday to maintain the Commission everyday as a housekeeper while still maintaining your duty as a fixer, not only that but maybe they can even gain some skills in housekeeping as well and would be able to help you out when you’re busy with other things?” The boy beamed excitedly at him.
“A housekeeping class hmm…” Thoma hummed in response. “Sure we can give it a go,but do we keep it just to the Yashiro Commission or are outsiders allowed to join as well?” The taller blonde asked for Aether’s opinion.
“Hmm I’m not sure about having outsiders in to make it a big event, maybe we can start small and just invite the Commission's staff first before expanding and making it bigger if it’s a success?” Aether looked to Thoma hesitantly.
“Alright then, let’s do it then! I’m not sure if there’s many that would turn up but hey you won’t know if you don’t try.” Thoma gave Aether a blinding smile as he cheerfully rambled off about needing chairs and other items to prepare for the class while Aether was tasked with inviting the Commission's staff to the housekeeping class.
Half of the day was spent on promoting the housekeeping class and some were interested and said that they would try to make it to the class if they weren’t busy with work while some just gave him snickering looks at his efforts to help Thoma. Aether ignored them and continued to find any staff that was passing his way to spread word about the class.
The day was already ending as the sun sunk low in the sky when he finally met up with Thoma again.
“How was the advertising going?” Thoma smiled at him kindly when he saw Aether walking to him tiredly from the day’s effort.
“I invited practically everyone, some said they were interested in it and would drop by if they weren’t too busy.” Aether gave him a tired smile but there was still an excited energy buzzing in him, excited that Thoma can finally show his skills and awe them all.
Thoma chuckled in response. “It’s nice to see that you have that much confidence in me, Aether. I just hope that people will turn up. This has got me feeling nervous now.”
“It’s okay Thoma. I’m sure some people would at least turn up for your class.” Aether reassured the other blonde.
“Thank you, Aether.” The man grinned at him in response. “Well it’s getting pretty late now, go rest so that you can attend class bright and early tomorrow morning. I expect to see you there since you were the one who brought up this whole thing in the first place.”
“Of course! I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Aether grinned before they parted ways.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The next day came and Aether was the second to arrive after Thoma as he was there first to set up the class. They greeted each other a good morning before having an idle chat among themselves before class started.
They waited and waited but no matter how long they waited, no one else showed up except for Aether.
“Thoma…I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it would turn out like this.” Aether felt terrible. His heart felt like it dropped and sunk to his stomach.
“H-hey don’t beat yourself up about it, Aether. I mean, I had low expectations in the first place, so I’m not bummed up about it.” Thoma tried consoling the smaller boy.
“But I was the one who persuaded you to make the class even though you said you weren’t sure of it! I take full responsibility. I just…wanted people to appreciate you.” Aether looks down in shame. His crestfallen face tugged at Thoma’s heartstrings.
“It’s alright Aether! I don’t mind it really! As long as I have friends like you who would set all this up for me just because you know how hard I work is enough for me. As long as my friends see me for what I am then it’s alright. I don’t need the whole world to know and acknowledge me. Besides- I rather stay on the down low and not attract attention so that I can do some undercover work without having eyes on me anyways.” Thoma reassured him.
“B-but I just-. I’m still sorry.” Aether apologised before his vision blurred and he was shocked to discover that tears were streaming down his face and he couldn’t stop it once it started as his throat slowly closed up on him and he couldn’t choke out any other words to even explain why he was so upset about it.
“Oh, Aether…” He heard Thoma gasp softly. Before he could comprehend anything, he was enveloped in a warm hug by Thoma. He felt his face collide clumsily on Thoma’s hard chest, before he understood what was happening and just clutched his hands onto Thoma’s back as he hugged him back and cried harder into the taller man’s shirt.
“It’s ok Aether. Everything is going to be alright. I’m okay really, my feelings aren’t hurt. Honestly, I’m pleasantly surprised and happy that you care enough that it’s affecting you this much. So please stop crying.” Thoma patted his back in soothing circles trying to softly hush him to stop his sobs.
“S-sorry.I didn’t mean to cry. I don’t know what came over me.” Aether managed to choke out when his tears subsided. He wiped his tears away before taking a breath.
“I remember what it felt like, you know? Being an outsider. Before I met Paimon, I couldn’t grasp the language of Teyvat and had a hard time communicating with people so I avoided them entirely.”
“When I finally learned the basics of the language, I could only say a few easy sentence to people and they assumed I was dumb or lowly than them and that they were more superior, just because they were smarter than me.” Aether huffed in disbelief”
“I may not know the language but I’m not an idiot.” Thoma hugged him tighter to comfort him as he listened to his story silently.
“The people of Mondstadt are nice to me now,but before I became their hero, they made me do a lot of grunt work and took advantage of me because I wasn’t knowledgeable enough in the language to retort back to them.”
“They would withhold commission payments and make me do work longer than what was promised and eventually it started to take a toll on me and I had passed out in the middle of nowhere alone and was terribly ill. If Paimon hadn’t screamed for help and attracted the attention of Razor who was coincidentally passing through the forest, who knows what would have happened to me.”
“Later on Razor brought me back to Mondstadt and with the help of Amber, they got me the medical help I needed and I managed to recover.”
“So, looking at your situation, It reminded me of those times and I-…I don’t want you to be taken advantage of or talked down to, Thoma. I- I care about you.” Aether finished as he sniffled.
“I’m sorry to hear that,Aether. It was wrong of them to take advantage of you like that. You could have died!” He can hear the anger in Thoma’s voice.
“I realised that I wasn’t taking your concerns of me seriously, I’m sorry Aether. I should have realised how worried you were about me.” Thoma started to stroke Aether’s hair in comfort.
“It’s alright, you couldn’t have known about it.” Aether hesitantly leaned into the large warm hand that was stroking his hair in soothing motions. After a while they both regained their composure and separated from the hug.
Aether missed the embrace but willingly let go as he doesn’t want to further trouble Thoma and make him uncomfortable.
“ Well it would be such a waste to just dismiss the class today just because you’re the only one who turned up. If you’re up for it, would you still like to learn from me?” Thoma gave him a kind smile to try and cheer the shorter boy up.
“I’d love that. Thanks Thoma.” Aether wiped the rest of his tears as he smiled weakly at him.
The rest of the class continued on as Thoma taught him how to sew his frayed cape and how to knit a new scarf for the upcoming winter. They laughed as they bantered with each other back and forth and giggling at Aether trying to knit a small scarf for Paimon that looked absolutely horrendous and horribly misshapen before Thoma ended up correcting it. Time flew by as they were having fun knitting before the class finally came to an end.
Even though the turn up wasn’t great, Thoma still made Aether promise to attend the next class which is being held tomorrow. When he could no longer see Aether’s figure as he waved him goodbye from the Yashiro headquarters, Thoma’s smile slowly disappeared as he took on a more mischievous expression.
“Now then, time to make those two Yashiro Commission staff suffer a bit for making Aether this upset.” He muttered to himself as he strode away to begin planning his move.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The next morning, Aether was nervously making his way towards the Yashiro headquarters. He was a little embarrassed at his small outburst and had just dumped his past sob story to Thoma. He wasn’t sure how to face him normally after that and was just thinking on how to go about it when he was surprised with several people who showed up to the class. They weren’t familiar faces from the staff members he invited last time so he was confused on who they were.
His eyes met Thoma and the taller man grinned at him as he welcomed him to the class cheerfully.
“I decided to open the class to outsiders and managed to get them interested enough to join in!” Thoma said to Aether when he noticed the confused look on the other boy’s face.
“Here, I saved you a seat! I heard so much about you from Mr.Thoma here. It was your idea for this class wasn’t it? It’s a great idea! My useless husband can learn a thing or two and finally help out around the house.” A kind lady ushered him to the front seat that was directly facing Thoma.
“O-oh? Thank you.” Aether stuttered in shock as the lady gave him a gentle pat on the back and a warm smile before moving to her own seat.
Thoma had to hide his grin behind his hand as he tried not to laugh at how cute the hero of Inazuma looked as he awkwardly sat in his seat with no idea how to interact with the rowdy housewives present in the class.He was about to begin the class when he was rudely interrupted by a loud voice.
“WHAT THE-? Why are YOU here?” The previous Yashiro Representative questioned him in shock and outrage.
He saw Aether’s expression flickering to anger as the boy took up a defensive position before a woman interrupted them.
“What are you doing?! Apologise to the teacher right now!” The kind lady that saved a seat for Aether stood up and marched towards the burly man.
“B-but dear- “ the man tried to protest. “No if’s , and’s or but’s, dear husband. Mister Thoma has kindly offered his precious time as busy as he is to teach us housekeeping skills and I won’t have you disrupting his class and embarrassing us. Now, apologise to the teacher and greet him properly.” The woman huffed angrily at her husband.
Aether tried to refrain from giggling when the burly man admitted defeat and apologised for his rude behaviour and greeted Thoma properly and was clearly embarrassed at being called out in front of the whole class as the housewives in the class chattered and clicked their tongues on how rude and ungrateful he was being.
Thoma nodded at him before looking towards Aether and smiling at him.“Alright,that’s enough.Let’s focus on our class now.”
The rest of the class continued without a hitch as they learned how to sew various other things and how to take care of household chores along with cooking recipes and how to make quick,simple and delicious meals while you’re busy.
After the class was dismissed, Aether walked to Thoma with newfound energy.
“How did you manage to get so many people to attend the class? I was so surprised!” The boy beamed at him happily.
“Well, I have my connections.” Thoma grinned before laughing as Aether pouted at him.
“ Being a fixer has its perks, I’m always listening to gossip to get info about a lot of things, and who else is better at gossiping than housewives?”
“Turns out, one of my usual gossiping friends knows the lady that was married to that man and word made it back to her that her husband was being rude to us and she wholeheartedly agreed on a plan to collaborate with me to teach her husband a lesson.” Thoma wheezed out a laugh after Aether stared at him in awe and slacked jawed.
“Wow. First of all, the fact that you go around gossiping with housewives is a funny image.” Aether gave a small chuckle as Thoma protested with a weak “Hey!”
“Second of all, remind me to never make a housewife angry. Nothing scarier than a woman’s wrath.” Aether shivered as he remembered the dark look on the kind lady’s face as she smiled threateningly at her husband, silently communicating with him to shut up and apologise and be on his best behaviour or else.
Thoma hummed in agreement. “Now he knows better than to mess with us or even think about talking badly about my job now that he knows how difficult housekeeping is. Everything turned out alright after all.” He turned and smiled at Aether.
They were both peacefully silent for a while before Thoma was the first to break the silence by asking him what’s the next step of his plan for when he leaves Inazuma.
Aether pondered for a bit before releasing a tired sigh.
“I’m not too sure myself. The reason I came here in the first place was to ask the Raiden Shogun regarding my sister’s whereabouts but it seems no one really knows anything about it. Yae Miko did tell me that she would send out people to keep an eye out for her but-“ Aether paused.
“I don’t think I can idle around, I might have to make a move soon and travel to Sumeru perhaps.” He stared off into the distance, his eyes getting misty whenever he thought about his sister.
Thoma listened silently, his face pursed in concentration before it finally came to a decision.
“Aether, I have been giving it a lot of thought since our last conversation about how you were travelling alone and was sick from doing commissions with just only Paimon by your side.” Thoma tested the waters to check if Aether reacts negatively to his observation.
“I’m not saying Paimon is incapable of helping you but I think it’s better if you can rely on someone else who can help you around when you’re feeling ill or injured. How would she carry you if you passed out again?”
“I remember when you disappeared in front of me when you were facing the Raiden Shogun and my heart dropped when you reappeared only to be unmoving in the next moment. Luckily I was able to get out from my bindings and rescued the both of us.” He shivered at the thought that he was so close to nearly losing Aether that day.
“If you’ll have me, may I join you on your travels? It would certainly give me peace of mind just knowing you’re safe.” Thoma ended his request and looked at Aether expectantly.
“Thoma- but what about the Yashiro Commission? You’ve worked so long and hard here. Can you just actually leave all of that to accompany me?” Aether was shocked to hear Thoma requesting to join his party and was a little happy about it too but he needed to confirm with the taller man again as the journey would be rough and they would be faced with a lot of unknown circumstances and hardships.
“Yes. Actually, I’ve been thinking of leaving the Yashiro Commission for a while now since there’s nothing left for me here. I originally came to Inazuma to give my dad a bottle of wine from Mondstadt but…when I was shipwrecked here not only did I not find him but they were already selling a few Mondstadt wines here as well.” He chuckled.
“ I already talked about it with Lady Ayaka and Lord Ayato and they both agreed to let me go since I have already repaid them for taking me in and doing so much for them already. They’ll survive even without me here. Besides, I’d love to see how the outside world has changed now since I’ve been stuck on Inazuma.” Thoma eyes shined brightly as he excitedly thought about how Mondstadt would look since he last left it.
Before he could ask Aether again for his permission to travel with him, the small figure ran up to him and hugged him and he let out a surprised ‘oomph’ when they collided.
“Of course you can join me!” Aether said excitedly as he gave him a big smile before he blushed when he realised that he had hugged Thoma.
“Ah- sorry.”
Thoma just waved it off and laughed in response. “It’s alright Aether, thank you for having me in your party. Let’s take care of each other from now on. Promise?”
Amber eyes met with Emerald ones as Aether opened his lips to reply.
“It’s a promise.”