Archive of Our Own ^beta

"But did he mean it, Paimon?" Aether asked again, pacing around the room and fiddling with the rainbow rose still on his scarf, right where Lyney had left it. It was about a week after Lyney’s performance honoring Cesar, and Aether had spent the majority of his time holed up in their hotel room, desperately trying to work out the meaning of the rainbow rose that Lyney had given him and Lynette had told him to keep safe.

“For the last time, Aether, Paimon doesn’t know!” Paimon replied, almost shouting in exasperation. “Paimon isn’t Fontainian, so she knows as much about that flower’s meaning as you do.”

"I'm sorry, Paimon." Aether sighed, sitting back down at last. "It's just…I have no idea how to even have a normal conversation with him now, without knowing what he meant by it. And it's not like Charlotte's explanation made it perfectly clear. She said it can mean 'passion' or 'romantic encounters,’ but I understand flower language well enough to know that it probably has a couple more meanings too." Aether started fidgeting as he continued speaking, unable to stay still. "And he also said himself that he doesn't use specific flowers in his shows for their meaning, so does it even mean anything at all? But if he did intend that specific meaning of the rainbow rose, then he… then he's…" Aether trailed off, hesitant to give voice to this thought.

"...got a big crush on you?" Paimon, who had no such qualms, finished his sentence for him.

"Come on Paimon, don't be ridiculous."

"Ridiculous?! Paimon's not the one being ridiculous here! Just because you refuse to accept the possibility that your crush likes you back—"

"What? I don't have a crush on him!"

At these words, Paimon fixed Aether with the most disbelieving look he'd ever seen on her face. "Alright. That’s it. Paimon can't deal with this anymore. If you're going to keep freaking out about your obvious crush, go find someone else to help you figure out how to handle it. Paimon's gonna get some sleep."

As his companion floated away towards the bed, Aether groaned and put his head in his hands. ‘Someone else,’ huh? Easier said than done, and it'd have to wait until tomorrow at any rate. Plus, who could he trust with this? It wasn't exactly going to be possible to avoid mentioning who he was talking about, and despite his protests to Paimon, he knew there was an inkling of truth behind her words. He stayed up a bit longer, thinking it over while making sure he was ready for the day tomorrow. He resolved to apologize to Paimon in the morning for getting her too involved in his melodramatic worries.

—

Placating Paimon the next morning was as easy as ever. He gave her a sincere apology, followed by handing her a bag of mora and letting her roam the city and buy whatever she wanted. She forgave him instantly and gave him a quick hug before flying off in the direction of the nearest restaurant. Aether laughed fondly as he waved to her, happy that his friendship with Paimon was as simple as it was genuine.

Now came the tricky part. He had given it some thought before they had left their hotel room, and had come to the conclusion that there was really only one person he could trust with this information. So, steeling himself for the embarrassing conversation to come, he began making his way to Poisson.

Lost in thought on his way out of the city, however, he barely realized exactly where his instincts were taking him until he looked up and saw Lyney and Lynette just ahead, putting on another small show for some kids. Despite the pounding of his heart at his confused feelings for the magician, he couldn’t stop himself from approaching and watching the show.

“And as you can all clearly see, my hat is completely empty! So when I turn it upside-down and give it a shake like this, there’s no way anything could–oh!” Lyney put on a big show of acting surprised when a single card tumbled to the ground from the seemingly empty hat, to the oohs and aahs of the children around him. He reached down and picked it up, looking at it confusedly for a moment, before turning to the young girl in front of him and saying, “Now wait just a moment, this wouldn’t happen to be the card you picked, would it?” The girl gasped and nodded enthusiastically.

“Tada.” Lynette added nonchalantly, spurring the rest of the young audience to cheer and applaud.

“Thank you, thank you! I’m afraid that’s all for today everyone, you’ve been a wonderful audience! We will be having another show at the Opera Epiclese tomorrow evening, but if you and your families can’t make it to that, I’ll be here again too in just a few days.”

The kids, who had just a moment ago been visibly upset at the end of the performance, perked right back up when Lyney mentioned coming back in a few days. Then they all ran off, but before Aether could sneak off with them, he saw Lyney catch his eye and wave him over. Aether sighed, swallowed back his nerves, and walked over to the twins.

“Hey now! Don’t think I missed my favorite audience member trying to walk away without even saying hi! You can’t be in that much of a hurry if you stopped to watch in the first place,” Lyney said with his trademark smile on his face.

“Don’t push him, Lyney,” Lynette chimed in.

“No no, it’s alright. I shouldn’t have been rude,” Aether replied, still fighting back a blush from the ‘favorite audience member’ comment. “You’re right, I’m not in a huge rush. But I probably would’ve stopped anyway even if I was. I love watching your shows.”

Aether noticed a flicker of something pass across Lyney’s face at these words. Surprise, perhaps? But the magician quickly schooled his expression into his usual one, replying, “Well now, that’s quite the compliment! In that case, why don’t I offer these to you and Paimon again?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two tickets. Beside him, Lynette rolled her eyes, only for Lyney to shoot her a brief glare before turning back to Aether, smiling. “Two tickets to our show tomorrow night. You heard me mention it to the kids, right? Would you and Paimon be interested?”

“Oh, sure!” Aether responded instantly, trying and failing to not sound overenthusiastic. “We’d love to come!” He held out his hand for the outstretched tickets.

Lyney reached out and took Aether's hand, placing the tickets into it and folding Aether’s fingers over them. Then, while Aether was still processing this surprisingly gentle action, he leaned down, brought Aether’s closed fist to his lips, and left a soft kiss there. Aether immediately felt his face heat up, heart pounding out of his chest as Lyney looked up again, staring into Aether's eyes. "I would be honored if you would come to my show again, Aether. You'll have front row seats, of course, nothing but the best for you," he said with a wink and a smile. Then he turned around, grabbed his remaining magic supplies from the ground, and began walking off toward their home.

Lynette turned to Aether, who was still as a statue with his hand sticking out clasped around the tickets. Glancing down at his scarf, she gave him a knowing smile. “I see you’ve taken good care of that rainbow rose,” she said, before following Lyney away.

—

Aether took a few minutes to recover from that incident, sitting down against a nearby wall to try and get his thoughts under control and figure out what on earth just happened. He could no longer deny his feelings for Lyney; dense though he may be it was obvious even to him now. But did Lyney feel the same way? As plain as the answer may seem to an outsider, Aether was familiar enough with Fontainian customs to know that casual chaste kisses weren’t entirely uncommon between friends. That particular gesture had been…perhaps a little more romantic than most friendly kisses would be, but that didn’t necessarily mean Lyney felt the same way, right?

…right?

Anyway, Aether knew he couldn’t act rashly. He had already hurt Lyney and Lynette once before after learning they were Fatui. He’d spent plenty of time thinking over that particular revelation and had even apologized to them both shortly after the incident with the Phantom Weasel. Even now after acknowledging his feelings, he still wasn’t completely sure how to feel about their affiliation, but he knew at least that Lyney and Lynette were good people. He had witnessed their efforts to save the Fontainian people even more since then, and their intentions seemed genuine. He had even asked Navia about them, and she had told him the same thing.

Navia! Aether had almost forgotten, he was heading out to ask for her advice again before that interruption. He steadied himself, checked his reflection in a nearby window to make sure he wasn’t still bright red, and started making his way to Poisson once again.

Thankfully, the rest of the journey passed uneventfully, and after greeting Melus and Silver and explaining the purpose of his visit, he found himself sitting across from his former investigative partner.

“I’m glad to see you again, Aether!” Navia greeted him cheerfully. “Though, what brings you all this way so early? Did you need Spina di Rosula’s assistance with something?”

“Uhh…not exactly. I was actually hoping I could get some advice from you specifically. Paimon’s been trying to help me with this, but there’s only so much she’s willing to put up with, heh.” Aether said with a nervous laugh.

“Oh, is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine, this is just a bit of an embarrassing problem. Can I trust you not to tell anyone about it?”

“Of course!” Navia responded immediately, a sincere expression on her face as she spoke. “I’d never betray your trust like that, especially not after how much you’ve helped me out before. I’m glad that you trust me enough to ask for my assistance with this.”

“Well, like you said, we’ve been through a lot together. And you’ve let me see a pretty personal side of you as well. So of course I trust you.”

Aether proceeded to recount the details of his recent experiences with Lyney, leaving out the parts involving the true identity of the Phantom Weasel and the twins' past with Cesar. He mentioned the two tricks Lyney did with the flowers, Charlotte explaining the meanings of them, and Lynette’s almost supportive-sounding comments on the situation. He even told her what had just happened earlier that morning, though he was pretty sure his face started heating up again as he did, embarrassingly.

“So I guess what I’m asking is—I mean, I’m not Fontainian,” Aether said. “Are there any other meanings to the rainbow rose that would make more sense than as a romantic gesture? Does it actually seem likely that he’s interested in me? After everything that happened I can’t imagine why, but even I can’t deny all the evidence! I’m just so nervous though. I wouldn’t want to make things weird, and he just seems to naturally say and do things like that anyway. Is he really singling me out? Or am I misreading things? What should I do?!”

“First of all, Aether, you should take some deep breaths and try to calm down a little. You’re thinking yourself in circles.” Navia leaned back in her seat, obviously putting some thought into the rest of her response. “Now, I don’t want to say I’m an expert in this area at all, because I’m not. But in answer to your main question, it’s my opinion that you are not misreading things. The rainbow rose isn’t always romantic, but in the context you described, I would certainly read it that way. On top of that, the gesture you mentioned earlier when he gave you the tickets really can’t be misinterpreted as platonic, unless you’ve actually seen him do that specifically with other people too.” Aether shook his head at this. “Well, there you are then. I would say Lyney does harbor romantic feelings for you.

"As for what you should do, if my intuition is correct," Navia began thoughtfully, "I think the best course of action is to respond in kind. Not necessarily literally, though giving a rainbow rose in turn is certainly a good option. But what I mean is, flirt back! Be confident! From what you've told me and from what I’ve seen of him, he doesn't seem the type to have unshakable confidence. I suspect he might get quite flustered should someone try to beat him at his own game."

“You think so?” Aether said, resting his head on one hand. “I’m not exactly the flirting type though, and he flusters me so easily…”

“Well, then just do something romantic! Give him a romantic gift, something like that. It doesn’t need to be flirtatious per se, it just needs to be something he’d do for you, or already has done.” Navia gave him a small smile. “Keep it simple and I think you’ll be fine.”

“Hmm…” Aether thought for a moment before standing up. “Yeah, I could probably manage that. Thanks for the help Navia, I really appreciate it.”

“Of course, partner!” Navia responded, getting up and walking over to give Aether a hug. “I’m so happy for you, I hope it goes well! Tell me everything later, okay?”

Aether laughed and hugged her back. “I will Navia, don’t worry! Can’t deprive Spina di Rosula of fresh gossip, now can I?”

—

After a few more pleasantries and thank-yous, Aether set off again. He now had a plan in mind, and he just needed to wait for the right time. Thankfully, he had already been handed such an opportunity on a silver platter. Arriving back in the city, he found Paimon floating peacefully at a restaurant near their hotel, clearly having had a meal or three. He gave her one of the tickets Lyney had given him, watching with a smile as she spun around in excitement. “Lyney and Lynette are so generous to you and Paimon!” They spent the rest of the day roaming the city, and after a restless night for Aether, the following afternoon had also passed by in a nervous blur. Before he knew it, it was already time for the show.

This time, instead of Neuvillette, they were seated next to Freminet. They chatted for a bit before the show began, Freminet hinting at something that Lyney had planned for tonight that he was particularly excited about. Sure enough, for Lyney’s final trick for the night, after a wonderful show packed full of performances that wowed everyone in the room, Lyney pulled out none other than Pers, Freminet’s mechanical penguin.

“Whoa, Paimon’s surprised!” Paimon said in a whisper to Freminet when she saw the penguin in Lyney’s hands. “We’ve never seen you without him. Paimon didn’t think you’d let Lyney use him in the show!” Freminet didn’t respond, his eyes were glued to what was happening on stage, more excited than Aether had ever seen him.

Lyney proceeded to pull off the most impressive sequence of sleight of hand Aether had ever seen, vanishing Pers and making him reappear over and over and over again in the strangest places. His hat, Lynette’s hat on the other end of the stage, inside the magic box he’d used earlier, in the stage rafters, anywhere and everywhere he could think of. As a grand finale, he once again vanished Pers from in his hand, only to look everywhere around the stage without finding him, before finally pointing into the audience—he was right at Freminet’s feet. Freminet reached down and grabbed him, hugging him tight with a soft smile on his face.

“Everyone thank my brother, ladies and gentlemen, for so generously allowing me to use Pers in today’s act!” The audience erupted in applause as Freminet briefly held Pers in the air for them all to see before quickly sitting back down and curling up in his seat. “Alright, alright, I’m afraid that’s all we have for tonight everyone. Thank you all for being a wonderful audience!” Lyney and Lynette took a bow at these words, redirecting the attention away from Freminet.

“Was all that your idea or Lyney’s?” Aether leaned over and asked Freminet amidst the applause for the end of their set.

“Um, it was my idea.” Freminet responded quietly. “Well, using Pers at least. I could never come up with all those tricks he did.”

“That was amazing! Paimon could barely keep up with where Pers was the whole time!” Freminet smiled at these words, looking down fondly at Pers as he did.

As the audience started to leave, Aether, who had been distracted by the show up until now, suddenly remembered his plans for the night. All the nerves that had managed to dissipate throughout the evening came flooding back. He had gone over this dozens of times in his head, but the approach of the actual moment still felt so scary.

“Hey, Freminet?” Aether asked as the three of them got up to leave. “Are you going to meet up with your siblings?”

Freminet nodded in response.

“Could you ask Lyney to meet me out front when he’s done in here?”

Freminet nodded again. “Sure. Um…may I ask why?”

“Oh, I just want to give him something!” Aether replied perhaps a little too hastily, judging by Freminet’s slightly suspicious expression. But he seemed to accept the answer anyway, walking in the direction of where his siblings were backstage.

“You have a gift for Lyney? Ooo, let Paimon see!”

“Paimon, come on, I thought you didn’t want to be involved in this anymore.”

“Involved in what? Ohhhh wait, is it that kind of gift?" Paimon gasped and started bouncing around excitedly in midair. "Are you gonna confess?!”

“Paimon, for goodness sake, please be quiet! I don’t want everyone knowing!” Aether looked around in a panic to see if anyone had heard her. Thankfully, they were in a corner of the room that seemed unoccupied. He lowered his voice and responded, “Yes, Paimon, I…I’m gonna tell him. So would you mind making yourself scarce once he shows up? Maybe go with Lynette to get dessert or something so we can be alone?”

“Good idea Aether! We’ll make sure to give you two some room,” Paimon said with a wink and a sly smile.

Aether rolled his eyes at this as they made their way outside. Thankfully, it appeared that it was relatively empty there. Most people had already started heading home, and only a few stragglers were left.

Aether and Paimon waited for around ten minutes, discussing the tricks and trying to figure out how Lyney pulled them off. Right as Paimon was sure she had figured one of them out, Aether spotted the three siblings and waved them over.

“Lyney! Perfect timing, Paimon wanted to know. For that one trick with the mirror, did you…” Paimon looked around before leaning in to whisper something in Lyney’s ear. Lyney laughed and patted her head.

“Good thinking Paimon! Sadly, not quite right I’m afraid.”

Paimon pouted at this, looking genuinely disappointed that her answer had been wrong, before quickly recovering and glancing surreptitiously toward Aether and Lyney, then floating over to Lynette. “Ah well, at least Paimon tried. Hey Lynette, would you like to go to get some dessert real quick? Aether gave Paimon some mora for an aftershow snack!”

“Hmm.” Lynette looked over at Lyney, then Aether, who subtly fiddled with the rainbow rose on his scarf while looking at her pointedly. “Sure, why not.” She began to walk off in the direction of the nearest cafe that was still open, Paimon in tow.

“Don’t eat too much, Lynette!” Lyney called after her before turning to Aether. “So, dear traveler, pray tell. What did you want with me?”

Aether glanced over at Freminet, who was still standing slightly behind Lyney. “Um, Freminet, would you mind giving us some space so I can talk to Lyney alone?”

“Oh…sure, that’s fine. I’ll just head home. I’ll see you when you get back, Lyney.” Freminet waved to both of them, heading off with Pers.

“Ooo, alone, huh? Whatever could you want with me, hm?” Lyney said teasingly once Freminet was out of earshot. “I don’t do private shows, you know.”

“Well, I…” Aether swallowed, trying to force every ounce of confidence in his body to the surface. “I’ve been thinking. About that trick you pulled, with this,” he said, pointing at the rainbow rose still on his scarf. “I know you said you didn’t know the meanings of flowers when you did the first trick with the lumidouce bell earlier. But then Charlotte explained it all, and you gave me this one instead the next time you did it.”

Lyney looked just a little bit caught off guard as Aether explained this, but quickly brought his trademark smile back. “Oh, you noticed? Well, I couldn’t just leave you with a lumidouce bell again after everything we’d been through! Rainbow roses are much more meaningful, after all.”

“Meaningful, huh?” Aether chuckled at this. “Yeah, one meaning in particular I’ve been stuck on for a week now.” He sighed. "Look, I'm no magician. I can't be all sneaky about this. And I know this is like, super corny, but…"

Aether reached into his bag and pulled out another rainbow rose.

"...but I want to give you this anyway."

Lyney’s mouth opened in surprise as Aether reached towards him, holding the rainbow rose carefully in his hands. He slowly and gently placed the rose in Lyney’s hair, making sure it would stay put as best as he could.

Aether took a deep breath before speaking again. “I know that a rainbow rose doesn’t have to be meant as a romantic gesture. I know there’s other possible meanings too. But I really don’t think it’s an accident that you chose that specific flower to give me. And…it’s definitely not an accident that I just gave you one too.”

A few seconds passed in silence. Aether was beginning to worry that, even after all his nervous overthinking and conversations with Paimon and Navia, he had somehow misinterpreted something. But just as he was about to open his mouth to apologize, Lyney rushed forward, grabbed Aether’s face in his hands, and kissed him. For a moment, Aether remained frozen, before his brain caught up with what was happening and he kissed Lyney back, wrapping his arms tightly around him as he did.

The kiss was gentle, surprisingly so. Lyney seemed almost as nervous as Aether; he could feel the magician trembling in his arms. When they finally pulled away for air, Lyney immediately buried his face into Aether’s shoulder, holding him tightly as he did so. Aether laughed lightly, running a hand through Lyney’s hair. He carefully navigated the two of them to a nearby bench, and once Lyney had let go, sat down and gestured for Lyney to do the same.

“Sorry, I didn’t…” Lyney began, hand still holding Aether’s tight. “I’m normally more composed than this, ha. I just wasn’t expecting…any of that, to be completely honest.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah!” Lyney responded as if it were obvious. “Aether, I thought you hated us! Or, well, disliked us at least. I guess you helped way too much with the Phantom Weasel to hate us outright.”

Aether sighed. This conversation was inevitable, but he really wasn’t fully ready for it tonight. “Of course I don’t hate you. I apologized, remember? Look, I…I can’t pretend to be happy about your affiliation, but from what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen, you are being genuine in your desire to help the people of Fontaine. I don’t know what the future holds as far as your Father and the fate of this nation are concerned, but regardless of that, I want to…how did you put it earlier?” Aether thought for a moment before remembering Lyney’s own words from after his trial. “Right, I want to get to know you as just plain ‘Lyney’. I really, really want that.”

Lyney began to tear up at these words before immediately wiping them away and giving Aether a shaky smile. “Aether, I know I’ve said this before too, but…you really are a gentle soul.” He gave a small laugh at these words. “You are far too kind to me, and while I’m certainly not about to reject such kindness, I do find it quite unbelievable. But I know you wouldn’t lie about this.” He leaned in and gave Aether a small kiss on the cheek. “Keep surprising me so easily and you’re going to ruin my image at this rate!”

Aether laughed, leaning his head down to rest on top of Lyney’s. Wrapping an arm around his side while reaching his other hand over to hold…his boyfriend’s hand? They can talk about what to call this tomorrow. For now, as Aether looks up at the stars, and holds Lyney close, all he can think about is the matching rainbow roses they now both wear. A symbol of romance and passion, Charlotte had said. Clearly that was true.

But for the two of them, more than anything else, those roses represented something truly special.

A second chance.