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Venti was taking bites from an especially juicy apple, swinging his legs back and forward from where he’s atop of a branch in his favorite and only windrise tree. Enjoying the warm breeze as it rustles his hair and makes his cape float gently behind him.
Cronch. Cronch. Cronch.
He let out a giddy giggle, the sounds of a delicious apple getting bitten into and a wonderful warm day. His favorite things, he thinks. All that’s missing is spending this joyful day with a friend.
CRASH-
…..
Did he.. Jinx something? Nothing he said could’ve led to a jinx, could it?
Venti cautiously looks around, letting the wind blow over him then search for the cause of the crash. He feels around through anemo, until it crashes into the warmth of a body in which breathes shakily.
Huh… Sounds like whoever caused the crash had the breath escape them from a fall. But it also sounds pained… Perhaps they broke something?
Eh, they don’t sound in danger so-
“Ow…” A familiar voice vibrates through the wind and back to him. Venti immediately perks up, excitement thrumming in his chest before turning into concern.
That was Aether’s voice.
Venti immediately floats down from the windrise tree, feet touching the ground gracefully and letting the wind take him towards where the blonde was just a few steps away- sitting on the grass and poking at a swollen looking ankle with furrowed eyebrows.
Did.. Did he try climbing the tree Venti had been on?
“Dandelion?” Venti chirps out, crouching right by Aether who immediately looks up at him in surprise. “Did you.. Fall while climbing the windrise tree?”
Aether’s face immediately reddens, eyes flickering from the tree then back to Venti. “....Maybe…” He mumbles sheepishly, “I was looking for you, actually. Um.. Guess I found you?” Aether smiles awkwardly- though winces when he puts a little too much pressure on his ankle.
“You’re silly, you know.” Venti sighs out fondly, shuffling the rest of the distance between them to tap at Aether in order to get him to move closer to the tree’s base to lean against. Aether follows along without protest, hissing through his teeth every time his ankle is jostled even slightly. “You could have just called for me, eh?”
“...I know…” Aether pouts, “I was gonna but-” He lets out a soft exhale of relief when Venti places his hand on his ankle and a soft light blue trickles around the injury. It leaves a cool feeling as the anemo works on healing the offending pain. “-But, I got distracted…”
Venti lets out a snort, bringing up a hand not on the ankle to pinch Aether’s cheek fondly. “Of course you did.” His hand gets batted away, making him snicker. “What got you distracted, then?”
“Mmm.. So you know how Xiao got me a geo crystalfly?” Aether hums at Venti’s nod, “I saw some anemo crystalflies up in the trees.. There weren’t any down low where they usually are- but I still saw them. And I thought that maybe I could get a few, and.. Maybe make a bracelet out of them for him in return.”
“Ah. I see. And since there weren’t any down low, you had to climb. Hm?” Venti glances up to the crystalflies hovering around the leaves in question, one landing on what seems to be a stump where a branch used to be- huh. The bard glances over to where Aether had fallen and lets out a huff when seeing a broken branch. Well, that explains how he fell.
Aether smiles a little, “Yeah… I may have tried to reach for one that flew lower than the others and… Lost my footing.” He gestures to the ankle Venti was just about done healing, “I usually can land okay, but this time I tried to catch myself. Hehe..”
“Hehe.” Venti echoes back his laugh, making Aether stick his tongue out at him. He takes his hand off of Aether’s ankle then, pleased to see it no longer swollen. “At least it wasn’t broken.” Venti hums lightly, “You need to be more careful, silly star. I can’t always be here to hear you fall. My wind only reaches so far, after all.” He boops the blonde’s nose playfully.
Aether rolls his eyes in response, “You reached me in Sumeru before through the wind, don’t lie.” He boops Venti’s nose back, giggling when Venti flicks him on the head.
“You can’t give away my secrets out in the open, Aether! They might think I’m Barbatos or something..” Venti stands with a dumb grin at Aether’s fond huff, helping him up onto his feet nice and easy as to make sure he’s good to stand on his ankle. “Alright, dandelion. What did you need me for?”
Aether leans on his ankle, testing the weight and pleased to find it free of pain. “Mmm… I wanted to…” He takes Venti’s hands into his own, smile becoming far more shy. Venti squeezes Aether’s hands with his head tilting curiously. “..Just be with you.”
“Oh?” Venti coos, “Well, I’m here. Want to climb up the tree carefully this time and eat an apple with me?” He offers, beaming at Aether’s speedy nod. “Great! Oh, and when I said 'climb'- I lied.” Venti lets go of Aether’s hands and reaches forward to wrap his arms around Aether’s waist, lifting him up into his arms quite easily for a bard that looks like you could just blow at him and he’d go flying.
Aether’s reaction is to immediately hold onto Venti tightly, letting out a laugh of surprise when Venti jumps into the air still carrying him and flying up with the power of his anemo. He lands them atop of the branch he had been on before, settling them both comfortably- and despite his arms no longer being around Aether, they still sit very close.
And perhaps it’s the worry of Aether falling again still being fresh, but Venti ends up holding Aether’s hand as to make sure he would be steady. Then, as he's handing Aether an apple- when the blonde attempts to grab it, Venti pulls his hand away and kisses the blonde’s forehead as soon as it’s close enough.
Aether’s face flushing red is almost as sweet as the apples he eats, Venti thinks.
Xiao’s eyes stare down the bracelet made up of crystalflies around his wrist, a hand being very gentle as it touches each individual crystalfly. “You know…” Xiao starts, eyes finding Aether’s.
Aether sits on Xiao’s bed in the Wangshu Inn, looking awfully sheepish as he holds an ice pack to his forehead.
Mhm. Xiao thinks, though as fond as he is right now of the blonde in front of him- he wouldn’t escape his worry. “As thankful as I am for your gift…” He moves his hand away from the crystalfly bracelet and to the top of Aether’s hand that’s placed on the icepack. “You could have just called my name. You did it before for such mundane things.. Yet for just a bracelet you came to me, and in the process of running you tripped as soon as you saw me.”
Yeah. Aether just looks more embarrassed at that. He lets out a small huff when Xiao runs a thumb over the bruise on his chin, “I got excited.” Aether shrugs, leg fidgeting up and down the longer Xiao just stares at him.
Though, Xiao does that a lot. He should be used to it, Xiao’s even said that looking at Aether reminded him of looking at the stars-
…
But this stare was different from that stare. It was the stare that told him Xiao had more to say, likely in a lecturing manner but he knew that he’s said everything he can without being overbearing. He knew he couldn’t always be there to protect the blonde- even from himself, and it frustrated him. All he can do is give him a long talk and hope that Aether remembers it every time he thinks about doing something stupid.
Alas, he also didn’t want to overwhelm him. He knew how Aether got when he was overwhelmed- quiet, upset. He always looked lost. And Xiao didn’t like that.
Aether fidgets more, Xiao lets out a sigh.
“Just be careful. You already know what else I want to say.” Xiao reaches down in order to kiss his cheek, only then releasing his chin from his light grip he had formed on him and glancing towards the ice pack. “How is your head?”
Aether’s red cheeks are ignored by the adeptus, clearly used to Aether’s fluster. Used to it in a fond way, of course. But Xiao knew there was a time and place to tease him for it- he’ll just let that light feeling lift him up in silence everytime he sees those starry eyes and blushed dimples.
…Anyways.
He watches Aether slowly move the icepack from his forehead, only wincing a little as he feels the air hit the coldness on his skin. “..It doesn’t hurt. I might get a headache though.” Aether hums, letting Xiao run his hand along where a bump used to be- now gone down thanks to the icepack.
“Good.” Xiao mumbles, taking the icepack from the blonde. “I’ll get you pain medication. You can sleep off the rest.”
“..But it’s only midday…” Aether complains, though it’s a weak complaint. Especially at Xiao’s eyebrow raise that makes him feel defeated even with nothing said from the adeptus.
His stare, as it would seem. Said enough nowadays than his long lectures at the start of knowing him.
Kazuha remembers the days that he lost, the days when everything was dark and dreary.
Days that are now in the past, and despite the days where he feel as he may fall apart.. The majority of his days are spent putting time into the future he resides in now.
The past hurt, but it was the past for a reason. To worry so much about things gone wrong before.. Only results in misery on the days he wishes to be better. To be better for himself, to be happy.
That and, there were more things to worry about rather than things he can no longer change. Like things he can change.
And today would be a day to worry about. A person dear to him he walked alongside on the islands of Inazuma had just been struck by lightning, and was trembling in the aftermath of it.
Aether.
The blonde who confided in him his developed fear of lightning, as he had done with any one very close to him. Aether wanted to make sure they knew, he didn’t want to be ashamed of something that frightened him- to be open and honest as he knew he needed someone if that fear ever came to haunt him.
And right now, it certainly came in the worst possible form.
Kazuha managed to get them into a small cave, laying Aether’s head onto his lap and doing the basics of first aid when it came to a lightning injury- everyone in Inazuma knew how to treat one, it was essentially common knowledge- then once he deemed Aether safe he worked on running his fingers through the blonde strands of hair.
Calming Aether down was important to him, this was what he had no problem worrying about right now. For someone like Aether who didn’t deserve the pain he was feeling right now.
Aether gave him a look that told him he didn’t want Kazuha to worry, and knowing that Aether couldn’t voice himself in times like this- he only shook his head. “Just focus on breathing, not on how I feel.” Kazuha says softly, running a finger underneath one of Aether’s eyelids as he gets teary. “You get struck by lightning and you worry over how I’m feeling.. It’s sweet, but remember that you’re the one hurting. Okay? Worry all you want later, and even then I’ll reassure you that it’s just fine.”
Aether brings up a hand at that, grabbing Kazuha’s shirt with a soft grip.
A ‘thank you’, Kazuha recognizes.
“Hmm..” Kazuha scratches lightly near where there was a small cut on the blonde’s cheek from when he fell after getting struck, eyebrows furrowing before relaxing as he lets out a sigh. “I wish I knew how you managed to even get struck. The storm was far away and yet…” He runs his hand again through his hair, “Oh. Nevermind. At least there isn’t any more lightning out there… You’re a trouble magnet, sunshine.”
That gets a shaky giggle from the blonde, and as his breathing calms and trembling ceases- Kazuha would lay a very gentle kiss upon the corner of his eye.
“Much better.” Kazuha says in a pleased manner, “now then. You’re due for something to eat and a nap. Hm?”
Aether can’t say he disagrees.
Heizou was an annoying flirt that everyone groaned at every time they even saw a hint of him around.
Which was exactly what he took pride in what was known about him. It’s not everyday that you can have such an advantage over people like that. Underestimating him would be one of his strongest allies.
That being said, it’s important that it remains a rarity that he’s seen in public being the complete opposite. But sometimes, it simply cannot be helped. At his very core, he was someone that cared deeply and was very serious about his work. He understands that it may be one thing on the downside of being a detective- when he actually needs people to take him seriously they only ever see a sarcastic irritating brat over looking at his work and listening.
Really though, that’s not his fault. People need to separate who he is from his work anyways. He’s never been fired for a reason, after all.
…Anyways. Right now he was certainly pushing himself to be the opposite of what he usually is- and this would be completely normal. Seeing as when he’s with Aether, the only time he hasn’t been himself was when they first met and he instantly flirted with him.
Not to say that he doesn’t still flirt with him, of course he does. But he’s not obnoxious about it as he typically would be with others.
But, again. He’s typically not around too many people when he’s with Aether. He’s usually alone or with the few that actually understand who Heizou is. And right now, they’re out in the very center of Inazuma City.
And Heizou is fretting over Aether, being extremely gentle as he looks at the black-eye Aether managed to get himself by running into a stall’s hanging sign that was far too low.
“As pretty as I am, Aether- you really need to keep your eyes in front of you.” Heizou says quietly, voice light-hearted as he makes sure Aether’s eye wasn’t terribly hurt. It makes the blonde let out a small giggle, softening Heizou’s expression instantly in response as the detective fumbles through one of his pockets in order to pull out a rag. He empties some water from a bottle he carries onto it and brings the rag up to Aether’s eye, sighing softly.
“Sorry, Heizou.” Aether apologizes sheepishly, replacing Heizou’s hand onto the rag when the detective gestures for him to do so.
“No no, it’s the sign that should be apologizing.” Heizou smiles at him, running a hand through the blonde’s hair and shaking his head. “Anyways, I’d rather you have just a black-eye over losing an eye. So just be more careful in the future- kay, sweetheart?”
Aether nods in understanding, not that he would’ve had much of a high chance at all at losing his eye to a sign- but he gets it. If Heizou was worried, then he’d take it seriously. The detective deserved that, after all.
“Now then,” Heizou takes Aether’s hand back into his own- a gesture that normally when in public is only seen as Heizou being overly affectionate in a flirtatious annoying way- now to be seen to those who witnessed what just happened as something soft.
Something they feel as if they shouldn’t be looking at, something private between the two that they’ve been misreading.
Perhaps they all feel shame at thinking such things before, but that doesn't matter right now.
Heizou kisses the hand he holds, then tugs them back on the path they were walking with a giggly Aether. “We have a tea house to get to!”
Scaramouche hated the way he reacted over Aether suddenly disappearing from his view.
He hated it because he was still struggling to completely understand how he felt for this dumb blonde that decided to be there for him despite his selfish, horrible past. And to have Aether suddenly vanish- it made him panic.
The first thought of, how dare he leave me after he said he’d stay, washes over him quickly. No, too early to be thinking that. He was doing so good in not being in that fucking mindset- he wasn’t going to go back now.
The second thought was, did someone take him while he wasn’t looking? Surely not. They were out in the desert for fucks sake, it was almost entirely flat. He would’ve seen them comin- wait a damn minute.
Third thought, that’s a suspiciously large hole that wasn’t there before.
Fourth thought, if Aether fell down there. Why didn’t he make any noise as he did?
The steps over to the hole, staring down it and immediately seeing a dazed-looking Aether. Ah. Fifth thought, Aether was still getting over the surprise of even falling down in it. God.
“Aether?” Scaramouche questions, eyebrow raised when Aether immediately looks up with wide eyes towards him. “You fell in a hole.”
Aether blinks, then slowly nods.
Scaramouche squints. “Are you.. Hurt?”
Aether grimaces, taking a minute to find his bearings and stumble onto his feet. “Uh…” Aether shakes the sand from his hair then looks down at his body, eyes trailing over himself until freezing. “...Ah. Fuck.”
Scaramouche’s eyes widen, huh. He really doesn’t hear him curse often. Maybe he should be worried. “Well?” He questions impatiently, meeting Aether’s gaze when it looks back up to him.
Scaramouche immediately finds a grimace on his own face when Aether lifts his hand up, a thorn going right through the middle of it. Shit. Yeah. That needs to come out as soon as possible. “Okay,” Scaramouche reaches down with his own hand, “Come on, you little nuisance. That needs to be seen by Tighnari now.”
Aether quickly takes the puppet’s hand with the one uninjured, scaling the hole’s wall and stumbling along with Scaramouche onto the sand above. The puppet steadies them both, immediately taking Aether’s stabbed hand in order to get a better look. Shit that’s straight through, isn’t it? He takes the sharpest thing he has in his pockets and cuts through Aether’s glove- earning a noise of protest that he ignores. He works on getting the glove all the way off, putting away the sharp object and instead taking out water.
Aether is hissing through his teeth when Scaramouche pours it over the hand, but the pain only gets worse when Scaramouche dries it then wraps it as much as he can with the thorn still being there with bandages. “Temporary.” He mutters, then positioning Aether’s hand to be right at his chest. “Hold it there until we get to Tighnari.” He orders, meeting Aether’s eyes ag- huh? “Why are you getting teary eyed?”
Aether blinks at him, then rapidly blinks in a measly attempt to stop the liquid forming in his eyes. “Sorry, I’m not uh- the biggest fan of injuries like this.” He says shakily, trying to add humor to his voice despite there being none at all. “Bad memories.” He mumbles quietly.
“Bad memories, hm?” Scaramouche pats him on the back- though it’s not for the intent of comforting. Not yet, it’s to get him walking back towards the forest. “Yeah, well. Immortality makes plenty of room for those.” He deadpans, guiding the sniffly Aether as they step carefully through the sand as to not fall in another hole.
…
“..I can’t say I’ve never cried over them either.” Scaramouche sighs out with an eye roll, “It’d be hypocritical for me to tell you it’s dumb to cry over just a small wound. I cried over a paper cut before, you know. And it didn’t even bleed, it just hurt for a moment then I was healed almost instantly.”
Aether looks at him with a soft look that Scaramouche refuses to return- keeping his gaze forward instead.
“I mostly get angry when I think about what happened. I get pissed at myself too, for what I did. Not just what others did. But on the worst days, yeah. I cry. I don’t expect you to be like me- to punch a wall or take your anger out on some poor fool out stealing treasure just to release some emotion. It’s honestly in character for you to be crying more than me.” Scaramouche scoffs, though has an amused flash of emotion when Aether snorts.
“In character?” Aether says in disbelief, shaking his head. “No I.. I’ve gotten angry before too. You’ve seen me be angry.” He says, though obviously not seeming pleased about those experiences. “You’re right about one thing though, I don’t like getting angry. It makes me feel.. Like I’m dying inside. Like I’ve lost sense of who I am. But when I cry… I only feel hopeless. But at least after… I feel more lighter than I would’ve been if I got angry.”
Scaramouche hums in response, “I suppose that’s one thing I can understand about you, then.” He stops walking, causing Aether to do the same and look at him in confusion. “It’s fascinating how much more in common we have than I dared to think.” He shifts so he’s facing Aether completely, “Aether..” He starts, taking in a deep breath he technically doesn’t need and letting it out.
Aether gently smiles at him, obviously detecting Scaramouche’s hesitance and making the puppet roll his eyes. The one injured and emotional makes the attempt to reassure him- of course he does.
“I’m not going to say this again, so listen.” He probably would say it again- many many times in the future if it meant.. “So as long as you’re with me, I will never judge you for expressing yourself. Not as I had done before.” He takes Aether’s uninjured hand, raising it up to his own cheek. Aether looks at him in bafflement, “With me, you may cry. And as annoyed as I may seem, know that it won’t be for reasons in which I’m upset with you for crying. Okay?”
Aether’s smile goes wobbly.
“Okay?” Scaramouche repeats himself, eyes scanning Aether’s face-
“Okay.” Aether giggles out, a few tears slipping out as he does so and making Scaramouche finally soften.
“Okay what?” Scaramouche dares, eyes squinting at him and hold on his hand tightening.
Aether blinks, before he lets out another laugh, “Okay, Boe.”
Scaramouche’s heart flips at the nickname, “Good. Now.” He kisses the palm of Aether’s hand, letting it go then and turning from him- not waiting to see Aether’s reaction as he starts walking again. “Your hand shouldn’t wait any longer, and I fucking hate the desert.”
Aether is just left to catch up- snapping himself from the shock and quickly finding himself flustered as he follows the puppet.
Maybe you didn’t have a heart to begin with, Scaramouche. But you certainly had a soul.
Aether was… Dumbfounded.
Completely and utterly dumbfounded.
Somehow, it wasn’t him that got hurt this time. Which was surprising, because out of everyone- he would be voted to be the one to get in the most predicaments that typically led to him being in pain one way or another.
He really couldn’t help it.
This time- one by one, the other five all showed up in his teapot with some sort of problem.
How….
Why weren’t they going to a doctor anyways… ?
…
Venti showed up first, he didn’t appear injured in any way- but he certainly seemed exhausted. In which- that was fair. He didn’t need a doctor, he just needed rest. And Aether thinks he saw the beginnings of a cold in the bard- he could deal with that. He laid Venti in his room to sleep after getting some soup into him, and thought that looking over him would be the only thing on his agenda today.
But nope. Xiao was the next to show up, a nasty looking cut on his forehead that makes Aether wince and usher him inside. The adeptus was also exhausted and certainly in pain- karmic debt, Aether thinks. Okay. This is fine, he’s got this. It’s just Venti and Xiao.
He can’t do much about Xiao’s cut, as it has to heal on his own- and it wasn’t like it was bleeding. It only had the same starry void as the wounds he had in the chasm- so all he does is bandage it up. He cleans up Xiao of any blood that’s obviously not his own and brings him upstairs to where Venti sleeps. He forces Xiao to lay down, ignoring any protests and covering both him and Venti up with a soft sigh.
Venti’s presence helped Xiao’s karmic debt as did his own. He’ll stay in the bed room and-
Another knock at the door.
Aether blinks.
….
Yeah. There’s Kazuha. Except he showed up with Heizou, ah- not too surprising.
Minus the fact that Heizou is knocked the fuck out with a nasty looking black-eye and Kazuha’s cheek has a bad gash. Ah, Kazuha was also walking funny- okay. This is fine.
He gets them both inside, having to use the spare bedroom for them both as his bedroom was obviously full now. He’d lay a wet rag across Heizou’s forehead and eye- then patch up Kazuha’s cheek and wrap his swollen ankle in ice. And with an order for him to rest too- Kazuha lays beside Heizou- looking oddly peaceful for someone who probably just got done beating someone up judging by both of their wounds.
Okay! Everyone is taken care of! No more surprises!
….
Aether waits for the jinx to come,
….
He sits down in the living room with a relieved sigh-
Knock. Knock.
Okay. What the fuck. If Scaramouche is behind that d-
Yep. It’s- Yep.
And he’s got a pencil. Going right through one of his hands.
“...Boe.” Aether immediately says in bafflement, the puppet looking unamused as he holds his hand towards Aether.
Aether has no fucking clue what to do about this.
Scaramouche doesn’t either, as it seems. He’s clearly not used to treating his wounds by himself own that often- he’d been learning from Tighnari how to treat others, but.. To treat himself, his own body that wasn’t even human- yeah. He was clueless. Most shit just healed on it’s own.
Aether just wants to know how the fuck he got a pencil through his hand.
“....Okaaay..” Aether would pull Scaramouche inside and towards the bathroom, sitting him down on the toilet and grabbing the first aid kit. Scaramouche would say that he doesn’t need it, but Aether deadpans that if Scaramouche has no idea what to do then he’s better off being careful.
They end up just yanking the pencil out- though Aether insists on cleaning the wound quickly before it possibly seals itself back up. It’d be dumb if there were pencil shavings still left behind in the wound and somehow got Scaramouche sick.
Scaramouche also looked tired… Which was a first, but Aether thinks it’s a mental kind of tired. So while he doesn’t force the puppet into a bed, he does sit him on his couch and sits right with him. Aether would beckon for Scaramouche to lay his head in his lap and he’d run his hand through the puppet’s hair soothingly.
Okay. Now he felt that there would be no more surprises. Something clicking inside of himself- a feeling of fullness.
Everyone was here.
Hurt and tired- sure. But they were here.
And he’s happy to look after them all, as they have done for him.