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Durin and Paimon were both sitting at a table in the Mondstadt library. Paimon was taking down notes for her studies, while Durin was practicing his penmenship. It was one of those days where the library was completely empty, save for Lisa, who was enjoying a cup of tea. So the two of them had complete silence to focus on their work.
Both were deep in their studies, the only thing that could be heard was the scratching of their quills.
That was until soft footsteps descended down the stairs, with glasses clinking alongside them. The pair didn’t seem to notice, as they didn’t turn away from their papers for a second.
The footsteps stopped next to Paimon and then a glass of lemonade with ice was set beside her. When the fairy heard the glass hit the table, she floated away and softly bumped into the person behind her.
Paimon looked up and smiled: “Oh thanks! Paimon didn’t realise how thirsty Paimon was.”
A low hum of acknowledgement came in response and the footsteps eventually reached Durin. Another glass of lemonade was placed on the table beside him, which he also didn’t seem to notice, as he was too focused dragging his quil along the paper to make the letters look more neat.
“Time for a break. You’ve been at it for three hours already.” A familiar voice told him softly as to not startle him and spill the drink.
“Let me just finish this real quick.” Durin replied, keeping his eyes glued on the paper.
A long sigh came out as a response. “Alright, just watch out for that drink. Otherwise you’ll have to clean it up.” The footsteps then started to fade as the person was about to leave.
“I will,” Durin took a quick glanced at the glass of lemonade and then went back to writing, a wide grin spreading on his face. “Thanks, mum.”
Everything then stilled, except for Durin’s pen.
“Uh— Durin?” Paimon squeaked with a concerned tone. Durin looked at her with jovial smile, completely oblivious to her source of fear.
“What is it?” Durin asked.
Paimon looked to the side, before repeating: “Durin…” she dragged on, waiting for the dragon to realise his mistake. When she understood he wouldn’t get it, she continued. “Did you call Hat Guy ‘mum’?”
Durin cocked his head, puzzled at her question. “What do you mean? No I didn’t, I—” he turned around towards the direction where he heard the footsteps. There he found Hat Guy standing besides the stairs with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Durin’s face dropped when he finally realised what had happened. “Oh Barbatos, I’m so sorry Hat Guy! I wasn’t paying attention.”
“It’s fine.” Hat Guy replied faintly, still looking completely stumped.
“How did you even make that mistake?” Paimon asked. “Hat Guy sounds nothing like M.”
“I don’t know! I just saw blue and acted on instinct.” Durin’s face started turning red. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“Durin, it’s fine.” Hat Guy stepped foward, trying to calm the dragon down.
“Paimon cannot believe you’re not even a little embarrassed, Hat Guy.” She put her hands on her hips and looked at him with an amused half-smile. “But Paimon supposes you’re already used to being called strange names.”
Durin groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Why is my face so hot? And why do I feel like hiding away in a cave and never leaving?”
“Well you did just confuse Hat Guy with your mum,” Paimon reminded him, to which Hat Guy gave her a death glare when the dragon sunk into his chair, trying to hide himself. “Paimon would probably want to disappear too if that happened to Paimon.”
“How do I make it stop?” Durin asked, looking at her between his fingers. Paimon couldn’t see his face clearly, but it was obvious he was pleading.
“You don’t.” Hat Guy answered instead and walked back over to Durin’s side. “Just let it pass. You didn’t do anything wrong. You just made an honest mistake. You’re not the first one to confuse someone else for their parent.” He put his hand on Durin’s shoulder, which made him finally reveal his completely red face.
“Yeah, Paimon bets that if you ask someone in Mondstadt, most will tell you something like that also happened to them! It’s nothing to worry about.” Paimon offered cheerfully.
Durin looked up at the fairy. “Has it ever happended to you, Paimon?”
She paused. “Eh— not really? B-but that’s because the closest thing to family Paimon has is the Traveller and Paimon is always with them! So there’s no way Paimon could ever confused them with someone else.”
The dragon frowned, not feeling reassured by the answer. While Hat Guy had to supress the urge to face palm. Durin then turned to his other friend:
“What about you, Hat Guy?” He asked. “You said you have a creator, so did it ever happen to you?”
“Not exactly…” Hat Guy tilted his hat so that it would obscure his face. “It doesn’t matter. Just know that I don’t care that you accidentally called me ‘mum’, okay? I know it just slipped. Now drink something, you’re overheating.”
“Okay, thanks.” Durin gave him a weak smile and took a sip of his lemonade. “So does this mean I can call you mum?”
“Absolutely not.” Hat Guy replied flatly, while Paimon bursted into soft giggles in the background. “Do not ever intentionally call me that.”
“Aw, but Paimon thinks it suits you pretty well.” The fairy joked between laughs.
Hat Guy pinched his nose bridge. “Why do I even bother…?”
“But Paimon has to admit, it would be kind of weird, Durin” the fairy added in a more serious tone, once she got all the laughs out of her system. “Hat Guy’s not your mum after all.”
Another set of footsteps could be heard descending down the stairs, which made all of them turn their attention towards the tall woman in a purple dress.
“Darlings, I am glad to see you are enthusiastic about your studies, but I do have to remind you, this is still a library.” She smiled sweetly with a hint of danger.
“S-sorry, miss Lisa!” Both Durin and Paimon exclaimed as the librarian giggled and left.