Chapter Text
It was a gorgeous morning, the smell of mint, sweet flowers and violetgrass hung in the air as Paimon and Aether walked along one of the trails near Tiangong Gorge. “Paimon thinks it’s time we go visit one of our friends!” Aether could barely hear his travel companion over his own thoughts. It had been how long since he had last seen him? At least a month. “I know who we’re going to go visit, but who knows where he’s at right now.” He replied, a somewhat longing look in his eyes. “Well, why don’t we-?” Aether didn’t let Paimon finish what she was trying to say. “Let’s check Northland Bank. Andrei or Ekaterina might know where he’s at.” Aether replied, quickly opening the map of Teyvat he kept in his pocket and selecting the teleport waypoint near Bubu Pharmacy, causing him and Paimon to be teleported to the waypoint.
Before he could react, someone jokingly covered his eyes. “Guess who~” a familiar voice called out, causing Aether’s face to light up. He began to uncontrollably smile. “Ajax!” He whipped around and gave his boyfriend a hug. “We were just about to go look for you.” “Well, you decided to look for me on a good day. I have the next week off. What do you say we go use to take a break from the stresses of life-?” He gave Aether a sweet yet sly grin. “Sure. I could take a break myself anyways.” Aether replied sheepishly. “I know just where we can go. I own a small cottage near Yaoguang Shoal that I use whenever I need to get a break from harbinger work.” Ajax said before he bent down to Aether’s ear. “Would you be willing to leave Paimon with a friend or someone so that we can actually have time to ourselves?” “Paimon heard that! Don’t make me give you an ugly nickname, mister.” Paimon piped up with irritation lining her voice. Aether and Ajax rolled their eyes simultaneously. “Paimon, we’ve been traveling together for more than a year at this point. I’m sorry, but I need a small break. I hope you can understand. Don’t worry, it’ll only be a week.” “No! Paimon doesn’t want to leave your side!” She stated, crossing her arms rather irritatedly.
“I know just who to leave you with, Paimon. In fact, he’s one of your favorite people!” Aether gave his travel companion a smile. “If it’s Arataki Itto or Xiao, Paimon isn’t going!” She snapped. “Paimon, I know it won’t feel great to be separated from me, but I seriously need a break. I want to have some time for me and Childe to spend. Alone .” Aether replied, gently grabbing Paimon’s shoulder. She began to tear up. “But… Paimon doesn’t want you to leave her behind-“ “Paimon, I will come back for you one week from today. Don’t worry, abandoning you is never my goal. You’re my travel guide and best friend. I would never leave you behind. Just please, let me have a few days where I can sit back and not worry about things” Aether gave Paimon a hug, letting her grip his shoulder as she burst into tears. “It’s okay. I will be back soon. Just please humor me and let me have these next few days to myself. I want to spend time with my boyfriend.” Aether consoled her to the best of his ability. “F-fine.” She sniffed. “Just bring back snacks when… when you… when you come to get me.” “It’s a done deal.” Aether smiled. Of course his travel buddy would make that request. She was obsessed with food and Mora.
“Do you want to know who I’m leaving you with?” Aether asked. “S-sure.” Paimon replied, still sniffling a little. “Albedo. While we were doing those experiments, you said that you really liked him. So, I asked him if it would be alright if he watched you if I ever needed to go on a trip or take a break for a few days, and what do you know, he agreed. He even said that Klee could use someone to occupy her while he worked, and could use some help in testing whether dishes he made were edible or not.” Aether watched as Paimon’s deep purple eyes lit up despite being mildly bloodshot from her crying. “O-okay. I’ll go.” She sniffed.
“Ajax, would you mind coming with me to drop Paimon off? It would probably be a good way for you two to bond a little more.” Aether asked, his golden eyes begging for him to join in on the tiny adventure. “Fine, but only because you asked.” Ajax replied with a stupid smirk on his face, which was just a bad attempt at hiding the blush.
Ajax walked with Aether to Dragonspine, which took nearly three hours to get to the base of the mountain. “It’s about one o’clock. What would you say we have a lunch break right about now?” Ajax gave a cheeky grin, hoping to appease Paimon. “Sure. I myself am a little hungry, so let’s set up camp for a bit.” Aether replied, opening his inventory, grabbing one of his Adepti Seeker’s Stoves, and placing it down on the ground.
Soon, Aether could tell that Paimon could barely sit still due to the amazing smells wafting from the stove. He was stewing carrots, potatoes and onions with meat and fowl, and it was quickly becoming clear that although this was a new recipe he was trying out, he knew what he was doing when cooking it. “Alright, it’s done. Please let me know what you think. I’m not going off any recipe, so this is a brand new dish I came up with. If you like it, I’ll be happy to write down the recipe. I'm probably going to call it Pork Stew.” Aether gave a mildly sheepish look as he took a ladle to the stew and poured it into three bowls. He handed bowls to Paimon and Ajax, and before he could even pick up his own bowl, Paimon was already taking the last bite of her food. “So, what do you two think? Do you like it?” He asked eagerly. “What do I think? I have more than a few choice words to describe this, but this should be enough.” He watched as Ajax set his bowl down, and reached over to him. Aether was shocked to realize that Ajax was pulling him in for a kiss.
“Well then, I guess I have to get the recipe down. Paimon, you obviously liked it, and Ajax, I uhh, I wasn’t expecting that reaction from you. I'm still glad you liked it.” Aether said after a long pause, his face beat red from the incident that had occurred moments before. “Let’s pack things up before it gets too late to move further into the mountain.” Ajax stated. “I’ve heard it gets nearly as cold as my home nation of Snezhnaya at night.” “I agree. Let’s get moving.” Aether replied, his voice lined with concern as he packed up the bowls and silverware. “I can always clean them later.” He quickly placed them in his inventory before standing up and nearly falling over from standing too quick. He was swiftly saved by Ajax catching him before he actually fell. “Thanks for that.” Aether gave Ajax a sheepish smile.
Aether, Ajax and Paimon continued to make their way up the mountain, and were soon at the rotting corpse of Durin in Wyrmrest Valley. “It’s not too much farther.“ Aether said, leading Ajax to a small cave full of alchemy tools. There was a painting of a hilichurl in one corner, and a bulletin board full of research notes near it. There were also shelves full of odd ingredients sitting against the cave walls. Someone was studying some odd thing, taking notes on it and just observing it. His ash brown hair and clothing had a yellow tint from the light of the fires keeping the cave warm. “Hey Albedo!” Aether called out happily, causing the person to look up from his notes. “Hello, Traveler, Paimon too, of course, and… might I ask who this might be?” Albedo calmly asked. “I'm Tartaglia, but feel free to call me Childe. I’m the Traveler’s boyfriend.” Ajax introduced himself in a somewhat formal manner. “It’s nice to meet you, ehem, Childe.” Albedo stated. “It’s nice to meet you as well, Albedo.” Ajax gave a warm smile before walking over and shamelessly giving Aether a kiss on the cheek. “I’d like to take you up on the offer to babysit Paimon for a bit. I am willing to pay fifty thousand Mora a day if that’s fine with you.” Aether set a sack full of coins on one of the desks. “Of course, but isn’t that price a little high?” Albedo asked, but Aether stopped him “I want to be able to help you do what you love, so don’t worry about it.” “If you’re sure, then I gratefully accept your offer.”
Aether profusely thanked Albedo for being willing to take care of Paimon during the week he would spend with Ajax, gave Paimon a hug goodbye, then made his way down the mountain once again with Ajax. It was then that Aether remembered that he had a map with waypoints for crying out loud, and opened it. “Hey uhh, do you know where this cottage you mentioned earlier is? I need to know so that I can use the map’s waypoint function to get us close to it.” He asked, and Ajax pointed to a spot near Yaoguang Shoal. “Hang on. Grab my arm and I will get us as close as I can.” Aether said, and Ajax did just that. Aether then tapped on a small blue dot on the map, and before the two could react, were right next to the teleport waypoint near the coast of Yaoguang Shoal near Guyun Stone Forest.
Ajax grabbed Aether’s shoulder and pointed at a spot on the beach, where Aether noticed a quaint home near the shore. “That’s the getaway home I bought roughly two years ago. I bought it for the sole purpose of whenever I get time off work to go relax there. The only people allowed on the property are me and people I have explicitly given permission to or invited myself.” Ajax explained as he and Aether walked towards the home.
Aether was quite exhausted from all of the traveling he had done all day. “Would it be alright if we start winding down for the day? Yes I get it’s only six o’clock, but I did a lot more traveling today than I normally do, and I'm kind of tired.” He said, yawning. “Of course.” Ajax replied, giving Aether a smile. “Oh, I have an idea! Why don’t we get a fire going and we can wind down for the night with that?” He suggested, and Aether, being tired, was on board with it. He helped Ajax collect firewood, and once they’d gotten all the wood, Aether grabbed a matchbox out of his inventory, struck a match on the case and tossed the burning match in the wood pile they’d designated for the fire. It took a short time, but soon there was a fire going nice and strong. Ajax pulled a small sofa made of birch wood and silk out near the fire, and encouraged Aether to sit with him, to which Aether happily obliged.
As the two sat together, Aether couldn’t help but feel as if something important was on the horizon, like a big moment in his life was to occur soon. But, he didn’t know what it was. He looked up at the darkening sky, and mentally traced his way through a sea of stars, wondering what was to come in the future.
Aether and Ajax went inside shortly thereafter, and Ajax led Aether to the bedroom. As Aether lay down in the soft, queen sized bed, he couldn’t help but feel more at ease than he had in months, and quickly drifted into a gentle slumber in his boyfriend’s warm embrace.