Chapter Text
One day Childe experiences an emotion that very clearly isn’t his . It was the first thought that came to mind after the sudden input of wry amusement mixed with a hint of secondhand embarrassment (How can I even tell what it is exactly?) that came out of the blue as he was meditating.
He is already heading towards the sound of Aether’s quiet laughter, quick to unfreeze and now awash with a tingling mix of wonder, thrill, and… hope? (Why hope, exactly? This one is definitely mine). It’s as if his gut feeling somehow caught on the weird phenomenon immediately and identified it as something very welcome and amazing, while he is still (mostly) clueless.
"Comrade! What was that?" he asks the honest first thing that springs to his tongue.
Aether and Kaeya turn to him with equally fond smiles from where they sit cross-legged on the sofa. Paimon’s nowhere to be found, apparently still “done with their shenanigans”.
"Godwin’s ridiculous return to Mondstadt," snorts Aether.
"HUH. Now he returns — after a near apocalypse and a war?" Ajax finds himself momentarily seized by the news, but shakes them off as quickly. "And no, that’s not what I’m talking about."
Kaeya looks vaguely intrigued, Aether cocks his head a little, curiosity now clearly written over his features. Childe realizes he doesn’t have a clue on how to relay the experience, but feels with an almost frantic urgency he absolutely must.
In an instant, he turns his focus inward to a near-meditative mind-space - with all his training it comes as natural as breathing - and searches for the echoes that are not his. That’s when Ajax “sees” it and stalls in quiet astonishment as he observes… whatever looks like a shimmering thread of golden light in the darkness of his mind’s eye. It feels like Aether, the other man’s slightly confused interest (warm, like everything about him) now coming through as a clear emotion once again. Tartaglia zones in and reaches for the “thread” with his conscience - and, without a shadow of a doubt, yanks.
Traveler startles with a gasp, looking like a ruffled-up owl - his eyes so huge with surprise Childe can’t help but snicker as he darts a little further like mercury and tugs on the other side of the presence he is sure to be Kaeya.
"What the!" And just like that Captain joins in full, shock bordering on alarm quickly morphing into bewildered realization.
"Do you know what this is?" Tartaglia is the first to untie the knot of an almost electric short silence. "It’s some sort of a bond, right? And we can share emotions through it!" he lets his fascination and excitement freely seep through as he perches precariously on the end of the cushion.
Aether grabs him by the thighs and drags Ajax deeper into the sofa’s soft confines between him and Kaeya, prompting an amused eye-roll and a tiny hot pulse from being manhandled like this. There’s a quiet fond huff from Kaeya, and the Traveler doesn’t hide his understanding smirk as both men definitely catch that.
"What else can it do? Can we share thoughts, too? Or senses? Oh…" Childe feels his cheeks warm juuust a little bit. "We absolutely can, if you felt that just now, can’t we?"
"We can indeed" Aether murmurs, restrained mirth both in his voice and through the bond. "Although it suggests deliberate focus, practice, and both sides of connection wide open to fully tune in to each other’s bodies. We can’t share thoughts, though. I’m not sure why."
Childe has a couple of seconds to ponder whether it’s a good or a bad thing before Kaeya speaks up.
"You said “wide open” - so the depth of connection can be adjusted?"
"Mm. One can dampen it completely from either side. I’ll teach you what I know myself if you’re willing." Aether supplies and chuckles at the immediate sinc of “Yes!” and “I want all of it.” - both verbal and emotional.
"You seem to know a lot about it," Kaeya softly notices. "Is it something common for your kind?"
"I am not sure, but we have-… had a similar bond with Lumine" he plows through the lurking shadow of all the bundled-up fears and doubts that go with the loss of it. With all that Lumine had lost. "But it seemed to be there for as long as I remember."
Before Teyvat.
Aether continues, not letting himself dwell on any thought in particular.
"Once I was free from Sustainer's prison, I thought Lumine was dead. I couldn't feel her at all. Then I realized most of my powers were sealed away and wanted to think that's the reason I don't feel her anymore - she is blocking her side, and I'm too messed up to be able to sustain it from mine. But turns out it was gone completely."
Ajax and Kaeya listen intently, always careful about prying further when it comes to his sister. But Aether wants to tell more - as much as he can without overwhelming them and himself.
"We could show each other our memories or even share powers and…" he pauses to recall the closest equivalent of what he plans to say in Teyvat’s common. "Life force? Through this bond. We saved each other’s lives like this on more than one occasion. And when one of us was down, the other’s care and compassion felt like… like being enveloped in a safe bubble of warmth."
Aether falls silent, fighting the onslaught of grief he clearly underestimated - and feels his eyes sting when both men do exactly the same thing Lumine would, reaching for him with gentle reassurance.
"If the bond managed to form between you and us," Kaeya thoughtfully muses, "then it’s possible it will recover between you and Lumine as she heals further, right?"
"Makes a lot of sense to me," chirps Childe and the Traveler quietly hums, mulling their words over for a long moment.
"It really does," he gently agrees, carefully hopeful thoughts about “what ifs” running further in a slightly different direction. But how did it form between the three of us? What triggered it and what can nourish it? Will they want to strengthen it? Bring it to what I know it can be, and to what I hope it can do?..
Worm of a doubt finally finds its way in, and Aether fails to squish it.
Immortality is something they had discussed with Childe many times - Aether is certain where they both stand on this matter.
But not with Kaeya. Never with Kaeya…
He will take any answer and respect that. But the thought of losing anyone again is near-unbearable, and with it comes a wave of wounded anxiety churning through his lines.
Aether is quick enough to put a lid on it, but both men are even quicker to catch on, their shared concern and affection apparent through the bond.
"What’s… going on?"
"Aether?.. Can we help? What happened?"
"It’s… nothing," Traveler gets out. But it is, he thinks as he reads the wordless answers in the troubled silence. There’s a soft incredulity there and something quietly guarded and bitter, a feeling of an unhappy guess confirmed. He knows whom it belongs to. I’m done with secrets. But how do I even begin to explain, and is it really the time?
"No… Actually, it is," Aether steels himself before he goes any further with this. Childe and Kaeya are waiting with patient understanding.
"I’m not sure where I know this from, but if we develop the bond as much as we can, if we let it…" he’s suddenly forgetting all the words, stumbling through his explanation as if he’s three months into his stay on Teyvat all over again. "- grow? Flourish? And if I share my…" Aether scowls, chasing for the fitting definition. Then deflates with a devastated sigh. "Ugh, I forgot the word. Give me a moment."
"Easy there," Kaeya’s gentle voice enters his thoughts, his presence in the bond equally warm and caring, but beneath it Aether feels that same quiet dejection from before. It’s a barely there whisper of a feeling that Kaeya is surprisingly good at pushing out of sight despite their connection being so fresh. But Aether knows where to “look” now, and he’s not missing it anymore. "Just breathe, okay love?"
Aching tenderness is a lump in Aether’s throat. They’re both holding his hands now, and that moment the Traveler did miss, so engrossed in getting himself together again. He lightly squeezes their fingers in return, endlessly grateful for that “anchor”.
"Thank you," Aether breathes out. Then takes a short pause and tries again. "Hmmm, if I share my… “essence”? Myself," there, the easiest way out he hopes is understandable. "It can help you… ascend eventually. Become similar to what I am - or at the very least be a fail-safe in case you search for other sources of immortality."
Traveler falls silent, almost reeling once his thoughts are finally out there, and so nervous (and excited, and hopeful) it feels like his entire core is quaking with it. Kaeya blinks, his eyebrows slowly raising in a curious mix of an expression. Aether sees (feels) the moment Captain connects the dots, his careful look of “Do you mean what I think you do?” put into an emotion and it’s… a good one.
"What I really mean to ask is - Kaeya, would you want to join me?.."
There’s a short stunned silence before Kaeya finds his voice again. Childe is watching them practically beaming with a happy grin. You knew from the very beginning he would, didn’t you, love?
"Yes. Yes, absolutely," Kaeya stammers, "I’ve… Thought about it. The concept itself… After the fate of Khaenri’ah and before I met you it seemed like a miserable one... But it doesn’t now. Not anymore."
The dizzying feeling of weight coming off his mind is so profound Aether almost misses an echoing emotion through the bond.
Bone-deep relief, tentative hope. That wary, guarded part of you had a hard time believing this is all genuine and no one’s leaving you behind…
He’s been guessing as much all along. But sadness still holds his throat like a noose before Aether even thinks to dampen his side of the newfound link. Kaeya’s expression shifts and the Traveler knows immediately - the other man caught it and realized he’d been equally caught.
Tartaglia, of course, wouldn’t have missed any of this, his entire focus razor-sharp on the shared “bandwidth”.
"Prepare yourself, dear Captain" he purrs, all fond mischief - and something bittersweet carefully tucked farther aside. "With this at our disposal now? We’re gonna bully you into believing you’re stuck with us for good."
"Pester your dear ones with love and devotion," supports Aether with warm amusement. And sets an example by not holding back the wave of overwhelming tenderness he feels for them both. It tears a delighted gasp from Childe and a short thick-sounding laugh from Kaeya.
Captain averts his gaze and almost immediately finds himself smothered in a double hug.
"Ugh, I regret it already." Grumbles Kaeya, voice still thick, and doesn’t mean that for a second.