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The weather was clear today. Not a single speck of snow for now while the bright sun shined proudly onto the world below, unrestrained and uncovered by any cloud. It had been fairly clear for a while now, right about when the two got together.
The train chugged along painfully slowly. Well, it would’ve been painful if she was alone. But now? She had him next to her. And for once, she actually liked slow rides.
It had been a while since news broke of the two’s status. Only within a select group of people, of course. Because anyone outside might just get the paparazzi on their tails like a pack of hungry wolves.
It was hard trying to make sure no one else managed to catch wind of their own relationship.
At least he had his own train.
Even now, Odette was still wearing her Prima Ballerina uniform as it was right after a performance. Well, except for the makeup, shoes and the detachable sleeves, but for the most part, she kept on everything else mostly for convenience’s sake.
On the table was a whole roasted chicken, a few now empty bowls of sides and a few pieces of cake as dessert.
Odette absent mindedly stared out the carriage’s window. The plate in front of her, once filled with food she avoids like the plague itself, is actually empty for once.
It was a funny thing that happened to her whenever she was with a certain blond. Of course, even now it was not completely ‘fixed’. Even now, she still had trouble wanting to even eat to eat no matter how long it had been. And honestly? It might not even be ‘normal’ even after everything.
No, no.
It’s ok, it’ll be ok. You’re not broken, you’re just hurting. He and everyone was here to pick her back up if needed. And it was ok. She made progress.
She let out a small breath through her nose and let her shoulders relax after all day.
Odette turned to her side to glance at the Traveler. Aether was STILL currently trying to crochet an entire doll which was only supposed to be for ‘a few minutes’. He had his supplies off to the side on the seat right next to him, an entire manual, and even an extra thing of yarn, knitters and whatever supplies one might need for things like this.
It was a blue reptile looking creature with a darker back and a lighter body and yellow trimmed lines running down its sides. He said it was one of the ‘saurus’ from Natlan. Odette was not sure which one but it looked aquatic.
He had just picked it up literally the day before when Alyosha offhandedly mentioned he learnt how to make his own clothes to survive when he wasn’t as good at hunting as he is now.
Though it seemed as though Vodynaitsa, too, was also sucked into his weekly hobby change. Even though she could buy her own supplies, she most often just stole his. She was convinced for a while she just wanted to be close with him, which was partly true, but she was also genuinely interested in whatever the fuck the blond got hooked on.
“I thought you were supposed to be the one making me eat, not the other way around.” Commented the light blue haired ballerina.
Aether froze, blinked slowly like he was waking up from some trance and looked around as if he finally remembered the rest of the world existed.
She enjoyed every time the slow rise of panic became more and more apparent as he tired to piece together how much time had passed already.
“It hasn’t been that long, relax. Just try not to forget your medicine next time.” Odette playfully rolled her eyes. Well, it was ‘playful’ by her standards anyways since her face was the same old stoic blank expression it usually was. Odette didn’t exaggerate. That was Vodyanitsa’s thing. She deadpanned. So anything sarcasm was automatically assumed into her being playful by those who knew her well enough.
At least Aether knew her well enough now. She still liked to think back of the many times his dumbass just… missed it and thought she was actually mad. It was almost a shame he didn’t do that though. Almost…
Her amethyst eyes tracked every movement of the Traveler as he let out a relieved sigh and his shoulders sag. Odette was already an observant person thanks to many things about her life, but something about him always made her want to watch just a little longer, just with a little more perceptively.
He shot her an apologetically sheepish smile before putting away his supplies for now and turned to the plate of food in front of him.
It was no longer steaming hot given how long he had been ‘distracted’ for. No worries for him apparently. He just switched to pyro before heating the piece of chicken leg up himself. Wasn’t exactly the same as steaming hot freshly out of the pot, but better than having it cold she supposed. It was like that one microwave feature Sandrone had on F.A.G.I.O. just to heat up food items.
Odette, even now, expressed nothing outwardly. But her mouth was far less restrained.
“Как мило.” Muttered Odette. It was a private thought that had slipped out into the one place she didn’t want it to. She herself only noticed when the blond adventurer suddenly froze once more, mid bite into the chicken. His golden eyes widened with surprise when he glanced at her.
Lucky her then that Aether didn’t know Sneznayan and she naturally thought in Sneznayan and had to translate it before speaking common with him.
Or so she thought…
Aether narrowed his eyes slightly while looking at her. She played innocent.
“What?” The ballerina tilted her head slightly.
“Did you say something?” He raised an eyebrow while lowering the food back down a little.
Sometimes he was a genius, sometimes he was not. She really did wish he’d only stick to one trait. Oh well, she supposed it was simply part of her charm.
“Nothing.” Shrugged the powder blue haired Fatuus, resting her head slightly on hand propped up on the table. “I just said you look ugly.” Her expression was nothing more than a half lidded deadpan once more. Her voice was as monotone and flat as ever.
Aether, too, responded to her with his own half lidded deadpan, which was more of an exasperated ‘really?’ than anything. A better word would be unamused perhaps.
Wow, she was thinking of the word ‘deadpan’ a lot. probably the fourth use of the word in a row including the moment she realized she was using the word so much.
If they were in some actual story, this would be horrible writing. She hoped if it was a story, that the author would improve and write something better. Though something tells her this won’t be the only instance…
“Well, I’m sorry.” huffed the blond adventurer, proceeding to turn away like a pouting child. It was a very Vodyanitsa thing to do. Maybe she had been rubbing off on his recently? Her eyes slightly narrowed once more in amusement even while the rest of her face remained stoic.
He even glanced back to see her reaction. How was she supposed to react then?
“Your eyes are smiling!” Accused Aether, his pout only deepening further. He was even pointing at the ballerina with the chicken leg still in his hand.
“Как мило” She repeated, leaning her head further into her hand. There was no fooling him now. While it was not the hyper focused, super genius, deeply perceptive Aether that could be on par with Sandrone if he was actually genuinely tired and had a lot of interest and free time, thankfully, it was the very… ‘child-like’ version of him she had to deal with. Better play along with it then.
The Traveler’s face went blank for a moment before his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What did you say?”
“I said you were a fool.” She simply shrugged back once more, though she didn’t try to hide the small smirk on her lips. This time, he actually looked surprised at first, his mouth slightly ajar like he just confirmed something.
Aether gritted his teeth and furrowed his brows, though not in any real annoyance. It made it even better when she started picking up on the blush forming on his face. But Odette was having way too much fun to simply stop here and now.
“Как мило”
“Как мило”
“Как мило”
Odette actually smiled. Not just smirk playfully, but genuinely smiled. The tiniest upward tug on her lips, but it was certainly there.
Aether actually stood up, now clutching the still uneaten and once again cold chicken leg. The blond adventurer gave the ballerina a long hard look of mock annoyance.
“Ты краснеешь, как ребенок.” Commented the fatuus as she turned her gaze towards the window and back outside.
Aether went quiet again. He seemed to sit back down for now. but then she felt him shifting slightly closer.
“Кто здесь на самом деле малыш?” Replied Aether. She didn’t even need to turn around to sense the mischievous, shit eating grin probably plastered on his face.
Odette froze. For a solid few seconds.
He spoke Snezhnayan? Since when? How?
Now it was her turn to briefly tense up. For once, Odette actually showed more emotions than a half hearted smile she gave to interviewers. She was looking at him, fully surprised, wide eyes and all, and a very prominent blush.
And of course, his grin only widened. The nerve! The worst part was she couldn’t even be entirely mad either.
“You… know Snazhnayan?” The sky blue haired Fatuus blinked.
The blond adventurer only responded with a shrug. “I wanted to surprise you.” He said it casually like it was normal for someone to learn an entire other language for their partner. Given his travel experiences, she doubted he was actually all that new to language learning. But fluently enough like this?
Honestly, she didn’t know what she did to deserve this lovable, ditzy idiot whom she didn’t know whether to kiss senseless or aggressively shake some sense into him half the time. So she picked the third option– proceeding to take another leg from the now cool roasted bird and shoved it right in his mouth, making him squeak out a noise of surprise.
“Just eat…!” Grumbled the Fatuus. But of course, the blond adventurer only smirk only grew even with his mouth full.
Aether took the piece of food from her hand and took his first actual bite of it, not before quickly re-heating it up once more.
A small sigh escaped through Odette’s nose. Her amethyst eyes locked onto the golden blond once more. She began taking note of things again. The way loose stands fell over his face, the way his expression lit up every time he took a bite even if the food itself was no longer at it’s best, or even how he was moving.
It was a weird thing really. Whether it’d be simply tapping his foot, playing around with something in his hand or constantly shifting posture. He was always moving in someway. And right now, he was bouncing his leg up and down as he ate.
But when he was focused? Still. Well, almost completely still. He still shifted postures a lot, but all that extra energy and attention spent on fidgeting around something was instead spent on whatever had his attention.
“How long do you plan on staring?” The blond raised an eyebrow.
“For as long as this pretty sight continues.” Replied Odette, completely deadpanned again. However, she made little effort in hiding her blush this time.
“Smooth. You’re actually getting better at this.” Aether chuckled back before taking another bite from both of the leg pieces in his hand.
“And you seem to finally pick up on them when it matters the least.” She quipped back with a playful roll of her eye.
“H-Hey, I wasn’t that dense…” Pouted the Traveler.
Odette scoffed in amusement. “Oh, you sweet summer child, you have no idea. Even Paimon caught on faster than you did. Like that day when you, me and Vodyanitsa went out for dinner and she left us alone and you still saw me as a friend, or that one time when I nearly kissed you, and you being you, thought it was an accident, or even—”
“Mhm!” A rare squeak of surprise came from Odette as she was caught off guard by the sudden feeling of his lips on hers.
She didn’t mind the kiss itself, obviously, though she could still taste and smell the chicken on his mouth and even feel a few crumbs. He really was a messy eater.
After a few more minutes, they both broke off the kiss, although a bit reluctantly. “I didn’t know how to stop you.” Aether sheepishly admitted.
“Hmm” Odette hummed, licking off the residue now on her mouth too. “I should do it more than.”
The look of sheer exasperation from Aether was only all the more worth it.
She really didn’t know what possessed her every time she’s near her idiot. Every time, it just feels warmer, and it wasn’t just physical either. A little ironic considering what element he had on at the moment.
The young Fatui wasn’t really much for physical affection. But with Aether and now Vodyanitsa, she was willing to make some exceptions. Sometimes, even bent them herself when she was having one of her better days.
Odette shifted closer once more herself and simply rested her head on his shoulder. She could feel him briefly stiffen in surprise before immediately relaxing. He didn’t comment on it. He just let her have the moment.
Even now there was a small, cautiously uneasy part of her that felt like being under one of her targets all over again. But it was overshadowed by her need for more of him, at the moment. She was sure that need would be gone by tomorrow, that she’d be revolted at the idea of anything physical again.
But that was for future Odette to worry about. Now, she just wanted to be with him no matter how for little of a time.