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It's funny, thinking back to it. How it started.
They were on their way to the Adventurer's Guild in Sumeru City, having yet to check out the commissions for the day. At Alhaitham's insistence, they'd asked Kaveh if he wanted to come along with them. Please get him out of the house , Haitham had practically begged rather than asked, looking like he was at the end of his rope. If he spends any longer mumbling to himself over those plans of his, I'll never be able to finish my book.
Sharing what he knew by now to be poorly disguised and even more poorly worded concern, Aether had agreed to take the architect out for their daily commissions, expertly covering Paimon's mouth before she could ask Alhaitham why he had such a weird way of saying he was worried about his roommate.
Kaveh was a sorry sight, dark bags under his eyes and his hair a mess from what was obviously an all-nighter spent racking his brain over yet another architecture project. But he assured them he was fine, and Aether didn't push it further. He knew the man — and, if all else failed, Mehrak — to be capable enough to handle himself... So long, as both had remarked simultaneously with a laugh, as their missions didn't take them to the desert.
So it was with a shared sigh of relief that they took the commission posted by a resident of Vimara Village. A simple enough one, hilichurl activity had been increasing in the area and towers had been spotted. Worried they might prompt more monsters to gather at the camp and eventually threaten the village, the resident had requested the towers to be destroyed and the monsters dealt with.
"Now that's something I can help you with," Kaveh had smiled. "You won't be able to find anyone with as much expertise building and demolishing as me in all of Teyvat."
"In all of Sumeru I don't doubt, but I'll take you to meet Mondstadt's demolition expert sometime," Aether held back a fond laugh. "I'm afraid even you can't hold a candle to her."
"Mondstadt's— they have someone like that? What is she like? I might have something to learn from her..."
"Oh, oh, you'd love her, Kaveh!" Paimon piped up, legs kicking the air in excitement. "She's the Spark Knight of the Knights of Favonius and she's super cute! Though she's grounded more often than not..."
"Wait, 'grounded'? How old is she?! Aether?!"
All in all, the trek through Ardravi Valley to the hilichurl camp took longer than clearing it. Kaveh's claymore made quick work of the towers, while Aether's seasoned swordsmanship had no trouble handling hilichurls and mitachurls alike to let his teammate cut through the crude wooden structures uninterrupted.
The woman who had issued the commission, a Vimara Village elder who had insisted on coming with them to show the way in spite of the danger and Kaveh's protests, looked between them with an amused smile as she handed them both their compensation.
"What marvelous work you two did together! These hilichurls won't be worrying us for a while, not with the lesson you taught them. You must know each other well to be able to work this efficiently —, and the way you look... are you perhaps siblings?"
Paimon was uncharacteristically (or perhaps very characteristically) too distracted by the candied ajilenakh nuts the old woman had included with their reward to protest the way she usually instantly would, and when Aether expected Kaveh to politely correct her, he found him surprisingly quiet.
"We aren't," Aether shook his head. "Though..." He looked at Kaveh, who was still silent. "I can see why you would think that. We do look kind of similar, don't we?"
Blond hair they both kept long, red and amber eyes... There was something of a resemblance between them only blatantly betrayed by the way Aether dressed, so unlike anyone living in Teyvat.
Despite the old woman's question being mistaken, something about it made Aether happy. The feeling settled in his chest, a little ball of warmth that remained even after they left Vimara Village, waving the woman goodbye.
He felt it again later when they took a break on their way to the next commission, as he watched Kaveh clean Paimon's face, covered in candied nut crumbs, with a handkerchief.
Lumine's absence... It weighted on him more than he wanted it to, creeping up on him at the most unexpected moments, making his heart weigh heavy in his chest. If she were here, he was sure, she'd also be wiping Paimon's face, mock-scolding her for being such a messy eater before digging into her own food in a just as messy if not messier fashion.
Kaveh must have noticed his mood shift, ever the attentive man as he left Paimon, who had drifted off to a food-induced nap, to sit next to Aether.
"You've been lost in thought ever since we left Vimara Village. Is something wrong? You shouldn't push yourself, I'm sure the Guild won't be too harsh on one of its best adventurers if you need to rest for a day."
"It's nothing that serious, Kaveh. Sorry for worrying you — I'm just... Thinking, that's all."
"Is it what the old woman in Vimara said?"
"It is," Aether had smiled. Kaveh's empathy made him perceptive to those kinds of things. "Ah, don't misunderstand." He'd quickly added. "I'm not upset by what she said. It actually made me happy. But it made me think of my sister, and... I miss her. We've been separated for a long time now, but it doesn't get any easier."
It had been Kaveh's turn to grow quiet then.
"... It doesn't. My father has been gone for two decades now, my mother... I haven't seen her in a long time. I thought it'd hurt less with time. But it doesn't. It just hurts less often. When the wound does reopen..." Kaveh had brought a hand to his heart with a sigh, lightly clutching the fabric there before letting go. "It's just as fresh as the first time."
The architect had seemed to hesitate before continuing, looking distantly at the silhouette of Sumeru City over the horizon.
"I didn't grow up with a sibling. I wished for one at times, especially after my father died, but it could never be anything more than a dream. I can't pretend I know what you're going through, missing a twin. But... I'd like to be there for you, however you'll have me."
Aether had smiled then, that small ball of warmth in his chest rekindling and glowing a little bit bigger, a tiny bit warmer.
"Thank you, Kaveh."
That's how it started.
Aether thinks back to it with a fond smile, to this moment of hesitant vulnerability between the two of them as he relaxes his shoulders, letting the tension seep out of them as he feels Kaveh's careful hands part his hair.
They sit together in Kaveh's room, Aether seated cross-legged in front of him and Paimon hovering around Kaveh's shoulders as he kneels behind the traveler, watching his movements. It's not the first time Kaveh braids Aether's hair for him, far from it now, but she still has trouble picking up and mimicking the right motions. Nothing seems to get her down, though, and she's determined to eventually be able to do it herself.
It happened gradually, this fall into little acts of care, born from their shared yearning for the family they miss. Aether is close to everyone he met and befriended over the course of his travels, and the bond manifests differently with each friend. With Kaveh, this is how it shows itself — those small displays of affection that feel like home wherever they happen.
It's Kaveh brushing Aether's hair and braiding it for him, and Aether doing the same for him. It's Aether brewing a coffee just like he learned at Puspa Cafe and bringing it to Kaveh when he finds him working late on a project, and it's Kaveh using the compensation he earns from the commissions he comes along to to treat Aether to meals after a long day of adventuring. It's Aether mailing photos he snaps with the Kamera he's getting better and better with to Kaveh when he's traveling in other regions, photos of the cathedral in Mondstadt and of the Tenshukaku in Inazuma City, architecture from all over Teyvat all gathered in Alhaitham's mailbox. It's Kaveh squinting at blurry pictures of messages in the script of the people of King Deshret over steaming cups of coffee and a plate of tulumba, translating to the best of his ability what they both know Alhaitham would decipher instantly. It's a warm hug in lieu of a greeting whenever Aether visits Sumeru City, one that smells like fresh fruit, spices, and parchment paper.
It's the comfort of doing all this and more for each other, and what it means.
"All done!" Kaveh declares cheerfully, snapping Aether out of his reminiscing as his finished braid gently hits his back. "Now," he turns to Paimon, picking up the hair brush again. "Your turn, Paimon. Don't think I haven't seen how many knots you have in there! Did you jump headfirst into a bush?!"
"There were berries in it! At least let Paimon eat some more charcoal-baked ajilenakh cake — aaah! Don't grab my cape!"
"No more cake, or you'll get jam all over your hair. And you pull my hair all the time!"
Aether holds back a smile as he watches his companion weakly squirm in Kaveh's grasp until she's seated on his lap, an obvious pout on her face. All three of them know it won't last — within minutes of Kaveh gentle brushing, she winds up dozing off without fail until she's fast asleep in his arms. It only takes a glass of freshly pressed sunsettia juice to wake her up, but Aether still doesn't know how Kaveh manages this with a single hairbrush. But there will be time to learn his secrets.
Paimon is as fond of Kaveh as Aether is, despite his initial worries. She's his best friend, and she always will be, no matter who he befriends and how close he grows to them. But his little companion worries easily and gets jealous at times — in spite of this, Kaveh won her over, even convincing her to try the charcoal-baked cake she was so wary of. She's dead set on trying to befriend Mehrak, though Aether suspects it's all so she can ask it to gather things for her when Kaveh isn't looking — presumably food. He hasn't had the heart to tell her the toolbox only obeys its creator yet, and the conversations her chatter and Mehrak's beeps and boops create are too endearing to give up just yet.
Predictably, by the time Kaveh finishes brushing her hair, Paimon is sleeping soundly. He shifts his hold on her, letting her lean against him comfortably.
"Where are you headed next?" Kaveh asks, his voice quieter now, careful not to wake up Aether's sleeping companion.
"The desert again, unfortunately for Paimon. There's areas underground I need to explore further, and I've heard from Candace that the hypostasis in Lower Setekh has been acting up and worrying the eremites traveling near its domain."
He reaches out to stroke Paimon's hair as she sleeps, removing a strand of hair she's started chewing on from her mouth and smiling when she mumbles something about tajine. Glancing at Kaveh's dendro Vision hanging from his waist, Aether thinks about the rampaging hypostasis, the ruins buried under the sands of Abdju Pit, and looks back at him.
"If you aren't too busy, would you like to come with us?"
When he nods, Kaveh's smile matches his own.
Aether will never be able to replace Kaveh's parents, and Kaveh doesn't want that from him. Kaveh will never be Lumine, and Aether doesn't want him to be, either.
They have a home in each other. It's nothing more, it's nothing less. It's more than enough.