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“Paimon thought you said that Tone-deaf bard was going to meet us here?” Paimon hovered by the statue of the Seven located beneath the large tree at Windrise.
“He said he would be here,” Aether replied, his gaze searching the tree branches above for any signs of the bard. He carried on the crook of his arm a basket of freshly picked apples as a treat for Venti for when they were to reunite, which was supposed to be around this time. However, Venti was nowhere to be seen. “Maybe he took a detour at the tavern on his way here?”
“Ugh, if that’s the case, we will be here waiting all day!” Paimon complained, hovering down and reaching for an apple inside the basket. Aether quickly pulled the basket from the small fairy’s reach.
“Paimon, these are for Venti!” he chided.
“He’s not even here! And is Paimon supposed to believe that he’s going to eat that entire basket of apples himself?”
“Did you just meet Venti?” Aether raised a brow, leading to Paimon scoffing in defeat. Both knew fully well that when it came to apples, Venti was almost as big of a bottomless pit as Paimon.
“Paimon wishes he would hurry up already!”
“Relax, Paimon. Let’s just take a seat and wait, I’m sure he won’t be long.” Aether had already begun to lay out the small blanket for them to sit upon, a nice purchase from their trip to Sumeru, and gently placed the basket down next to it. “Besides, it’s such a nice day today.”
“Yeah, guess you’re right,” Paimon took a seat down beside Aether. “Paimon missed the nice breezes in Mondstadt. Not too hot and sticky, not too rainy, and the wind doesn’t blow you around too much.”
Maybe it was the wording, but Aether couldn’t help but chuckle at her words. He laid his head back onto his hands and looked up to the blue sky peeking through the branches of the tree and sighed happily.
He enjoyed moments like this, no commissions, no monsters attacking, no evil Gods threatening the livelihood of the land. Just him, Paimon, and the blissful relaxation of the pleasant breeze.
Which, speaking of, noticeably changed.
“Hm?” Aether sat up and looked out ahead to see if Venti had suddenly showed up. But when he saw no sign of the bard ahead, he simply shrugged and laid back down in his comfortable position. As he did so, he was greeted with a pair of familiar aqua green eyes staring down into his golden ones. “WAH!”
Aether startled so badly that he jolted upwards, almost headbutting the culprit in the process but it was swiftly dodged with bright laughter. Paimon also shrieked by the sudden outburst from Aether, and her small arms flailed in panic.
“Hello there!” Venti greeted cheerfully, acting almost as if he didn’t just give his friends a heart attack.
“You Tone-deaf bard!” Paimon scolded, her foot stomping the air. “You nearly scared us to death!”
“My bad,” Venti smiled, his tone showing no sincerity of his apology. He took a seat beside Aether and got himself comfortable. “It’s good to see you again!”
Aether, who had his hand resting on his chest still, gave a smile to his old friend. “It’s good to see you too, Venti.”
“And what took you so long to get here?” Paimon asked, her arms crossed. Aether nudged her with his elbow to try and reflect on her tone which Venti took note of and giggled.
“My apologies. I was caught up with our dear Sister Rosaria who offered me some wine from the tavern. Fortunately, Master Diluc wasn’t around, so I had to take the opportunity,” Venti explained, noting Paimon’s eye roll.
“Paimon knew it.”
“Ehe~”
“Here, Venti,” Aether thought it best to change the subject before Paimon got angry and held out his hand to the basket of apples that sat neatly beside them. “We picked these for you.”
Venti’s eyes lit up at the sight of the delicious looking fruit and wasted no precious seconds in taking one from the basket. He bit down on the apple with a content hum, pleased noises emitting from him as he chowed down.
“Delicious!” Venti said through his chewing, his head lowering to rest onto Aether’s thighs. The traveller was caught off guard by the sudden action, but he allowed it. Venti looked up towards Aether as he continued to eat. “I can only imagine the amount of stories you have to share since our last encounter.”
“Oh, yeah,” Aether chuckled. “Where do I even begin?”
Venti laughed along with his chuckle. “My brave warrior, always there to help those in need. I trust the winds have blessed your journey?”
“Mhm. Just like you said.”
“I’m glad. I do wish I could do more to help with your journey,” Venti’s tone was softer than usual. “But alas, this Tone-deaf bard can only offer you the finest music instead.”
“Hmph! How is that supposed to help us?” Paimon scoffed and received a playful boop from Venti’s foot from his position on Aether’s lap.
“Music can help plenty, actually.”
“If we’re going against an enemy, are we supposed to play it a lullaby!?” Paimon started to grow irritated at the amount of boops Venti’s foot was giving her. “Stop that!”
When Venti only laughed and kept up his mischievous antics, Paimon resorted to other methods. With a small growl, she yanked off Venti’s shoe and began to scribble her small fingers over his tights covered sole.
“Ehehehe! Hehehey!” Venti giggled and pulled his foot away from her, but she only chased after and continued to tickle his foot. “Stohohop thahat!”
“Oh, no! First you make Paimon wait, not even offering to share your apples, and then you kick Paimon!? You’re getting what you deserve!”
“You never ahahasked about the apples!” Venti giggled and squirmed in Aether’s lap, who was in fact the one guilty for denying Paimon an apple, but he kept quiet. There was something endearing about seeing these two play like this, so much so that Aether decided to join in. “AHAHACK! Nohohot you too!”
Aether’s fingers dug into Venti’s ribs; the higher ones not covered by his corset. The bard immediately fell back against Aether and squirmed as the two tickled him.
“Yeah, get him, Aether!” Paimon cheered, both laughing along with the bard, whose laughter was a bright as the sun above them.
“Mehehercy!” Venti begged, his efforts to squirm away foiled by Aether wrapping an arm around his frame to keep him steady.
“I had no idea Archons could be so ticklish,” Aether teased, wiggling his fingers up into the bard’s underarms.
“NAHAHAHA,” Venti howled, his braids whipping side to side as he shook his head.
“Maybe it’s just Venti,” Paimon also teased. “Now we know his weakness, we can defeat the Anemo Archon!”
“Shh, Paimon not so loud,” Aether hissed, reminding her of their surroundings. They may be tickling him to death right now, but he doesn’t want to go as far as revealing Venti’s identity to anyone.
“Oh right,” Paimon then paused her tickling to question the very giggly bard. “Do you surrender?”
“I give up!” his giggles whined, and with one last tickle to his ribs, Aether stopped tickling him, but kept hold of him. “Soho mehean.”
“Are you okay?” Aether chuckled, brushing some of Venti’s messed up hair to the side.
“I’m hurt that you could be so mean to me!” Venti pouted. “But I suppose I can forgive you this one time. You did bring me apples, after all. Next time, however.”
That mischievous and toothy grin worried Aether to the point he gulped. He doesn’t want to imagine what a vengeful Venti was like, and his nervous chuckle was enough to give that away.
The bard took another apple and passed it to Paimon, who squealed happily and began to eat. Venti then passed another to Aether and took another for himself.
“Now then, enlighten me with your tales. I want to hear all about them.”