Work Text:
Aether woke up in the now familiar closet in the kitchen. The sun shining down in the closet through a small window above the top shelf.
He remembered how he got in here all too well. How could he forget? It isn't difficult to forget your boyfriend telling you you'd be staying in here 'until you learn to listen' or in other words, a week and this would be repeated if he tries to leave again.
He got up and paced around the closet a little while he waited for Scaramouche to wake up.
After an hour of waiting around the closet, the door opened a little to reveal the indigo haired puppet holding a plate of French toast and smiling down at him. "How's my little traveler doing?"
Aether looked up at him and frowned a little, "what do you think?"
"Lonesome, I'd imagine. But, you know you had it coming when you ran off," Scaramouche set the plate down in front of Aether, "and to think I was going to let you go to work alone."
Aether shifted in his seat. If he didn't try his escape would he actually have been allowed to go out on his own again?
Scaramouche looked down at him, "go on, Traveler, eat up." He ruffled Aether's hair, "I'm going to go do my job now, I should be back to give you dinner."
Aether blinked a few times at the unexpected action. After a bit, he looked back up and the door was closed again with only him and the plate of food in there.
He ate half the food now and tried for a nap before lunch. Scaramouche rarely came home during lunch, so Aether got in the habit of saving his food for later.
During dinner, Scaramouche gave Aether some sweet madame and a dessert side of mint jelly. It tasted delicious, delicious enough for Aether to ignore the hand scratching behind his ear like he were some dog.
"Good, good Traveler," Scaramouche smiled down at him. "You love me, don't you?"
Aether nodded as he ate some of the chicken.
"Good. You should remember that, 'kay?"
Another nod.
After he was done eating, Aether had his head on Scaramouche's lap as Scara played with his hair.
"Say it again."
"Love you."
Scaramouche felt his smile grow, "go on, keep going."
"I love you.. I love you."
"Come on, Aether, say it until you actually believe it."
Aether repeated it until his mouth ran dry. It felt nice to be called by his actual name.. maybe that's why he was so willing to repeat 'I love you's to Scaramouche for hours. It's probably also why Scaramouche knew he could get Aether to say it for as long as he wanted.
"Good love. Keep going and I might let you out of here tomorrow morning instead of making you wait a few more days," Scaramouche said as he brushed his fingers through Aether's hair.
Scaramouche was a man of his word, Aether was let out of the closet mid afternoon.
Aether, upon his punishment ending, walked around the house to stretch his legs.
He decided to cook something after his walk. He chopped veggies and some pork for a katsu-sandwich with a side salad.
While cooking, he felt a porcelain hand on his chin and tilted it up, "you're not going to try escaping again, are you, Aether?"
Aether shook his head, "no."
"And why's that?"
"Because I love you.."
Scaramouche grins, "good boy."