Work Text:
Kaeya felt a presence next to him. A chair squeaked as it was dragged over to their table and he looked over, expecting another knight, one of the Cat’s Tail’s regulars or perhaps even a problem. He did not expect to see the Traveler with a drink in hand.
“Mind if I join you guys?” he asked flatly, coming to straddle the chair and hunch over the back of it without waiting for a response.
“Please, be our guest,” Kaeya said and turned to the two knights with him. “Bruce, Lawrence, you’ve met our Honorary Knight, haven’t you?”
They gave cheerful affirmatives. The blonde gave them a polite wave and returned to his thousand yard stare.
Kaeya leaned back and craned his head over, because of course he chose to sit on his bad side. “You didn’t bring Paimon with you?”
He shook his head. His eyes were glassy, unfocused, just like his voice. “I needed some adult time.”
“What are you doing here instead of Angel’s Share?”
“Same thing you are. Avoiding Diluc.”
…Well that was uncalled for. Kaeya raised an eyebrow and took a sip of his drink to hide the offense. “Well aren’t you presumptuous? What if I simply prefer the atmosphere here?”
He prepped for a catty exchange but the man only gave him a listless stare and a noncommittal hum. It unsettled him. He shared a worried glance with his drinking buddies before turning back to the overcast sun. “Why are you avoiding Diluc? I thought you two were besties.”
The Traveler shook his head again, both stiff and dazed. “We are, and I don’t want him to nag me tonight.”
“Nag you about what?”
He just raised his glass. A little bit of life came back into his eyes and he finally looked at him for the first time that night. “Actually, could you chill this for me?”
Kaeya accepted the goblet and frowned at the smell. “I thought you were underage,” he lied.
The Traveler sighed where he normally would’ve laughed at the running gag. “I am by far the oldest person in this building and you know that.”
Yikes. He did as requested and chilled the drink to a fine slush, making a mental note that his companion liked sickeningly sweet, fruity drinks. He did not know what to make of the uncharacteristic aggression and neither did his two knights. They squirmed while he handed the drink back.
Rather than get defensive, Kaeya tried being a bit more genuine. “What’s on your mind, Traveler? You don’t seem like yourself.”
The blonde threw half of the drink back in one go. “You can call me Aether. It’s easier.”
His eyes widened and he sobered instantly. That was not something freely shared, especially not in a bar with any number of eavesdroppers. Thankfully his two companions were too drunk to appreciate the gravity of the situation, so he leaned onto the table and fixed Aether with the most charming smile he could conjure.
“Alright then. You still haven’t said what’s got you in such a funk.”
“Oh, it’s nothing” Aether said and took another sip, totally casual. “A guy used me to kill himself the other day.”
Nobody was too drunk to ignore that. Kaeya’s jaw dropped once his tipsy mind parsed the meaning apart from the bland tone. “Oh, my… Are… are you okay?”
“Heavens above and below, no,” the blonde laughed, the first emotion of the night. “He is, though! He’s great.” He finished his drink and let the empty glass hang with his wrist. “Anyway, I’m gonna get another drink. Do you want anything to eat?”
“Uh…”
“I’m gonna get us something to eat,” Aether said cheerily and slapped his hands on his thighs to haul himself up. “Be right back.”
He caught his leg on the chair but managed to avoid taking a fall. The three knights watched him go with horrorstruck expressions. Kaeya looked back to Bruce and Lawrence for help only to find them collecting their things and getting ready to leave.
“Excuse you?”
Lawrence bowed and steadied the other one. “We’re terribly sorry, but we, uh… it’s probably better that you guys talk alone, isn’t it? We don’t know him very well.”
“He was perfectly comfortable sharing while you were there,” Kaeya responded with an icy edge.
“Yeah, but it’s awkward. Can you just give him our condolences?” Bruce asked.
Cowards. The man had helped save their damn city and they couldn’t be bothered to share a drink with him. Maybe Diluc was onto something with his distaste for the Knights.
He waved them away without another word, furtively pulling his black book from his pocket once their backs were turned and scribbling to put them on the worst duties possible. They might not remember this night, but they were going to pay for it.
Aether returned after a few minutes with another cocktail in his right hand, a mug in his left and a plate of soft pretzels and cheese balanced on his elbow. A cat wound around his ankles, hellbent on tripping him but miraculously failing. He looked around and pouted. “Did I scare your friends off?”
“No, no, they just had something come up,” he lied. “They’re not the best at holding their liquor.”
“I guess Lawrence takes after his dad then, right?” Aether joked.
“Eh?”
“Lawrence is named Lawrence because his dad lost a drinking competition with Wagner. He didn’t know about the Lawrence clan.”
Kaeya blinked. Winked. “...How do you know that?”
“I asked him about it once. Lots of people do. I think it annoys him.”
“And you remembered?”
“Mmhm,” Aether said and started setting the food down. He slid the other mug over to him, a fresh Death After Noon reflecting the lanternlight in its dark surface. Kaeya used it to correct his expression, mask the irritation that he was normally better at hiding. What an unfortunate day to get wasted.
He looked over as Aether plopped back down the wrong way in his chair and started munching, perfectly calm.
“So… someone used you to kill themself?” Kaeya prodded.
“He got better.”
Another bite, a sip from his cocktail before Aether made a face. He held the glass over to him. “Eugh, I’m glad Diona’s not here to lecture me, but they really need to figure out a way to keep things cold. Would you mind?”
He mutely chilled the drink and handed it back to him. Aether thanked him and returned to staring into the middle distance, so Kaeya scooted forward into his field of view. “Oh…kay? What happened?”
Aether spoke a little too fast but with a completely flat affect, his bizarre accent buzzing stronger than usual with the alcohol. “Basically, a super dangerous villain that had tried to kill me twice - or a hundred and seventy times, depending on who you ask - learned that his entire life was a lie to turn him against the people he loved and into the Fatui’s toy. He thought he knew a way to change the past. He held my hand and looked me in the eye and asked me if it was possible, which surprised me, and I hesitated for a second, which he took as a yes and then went and threw himself into Irminsul before I could stop him.”
Kaeya swallowed and tried to process the information dump through his own inebriation. He hesitantly rubbed the blonde man’s shoulder.
He continued like he didn't notice. “And I mean that’s bad, but I think it’s fucking me up so much because I just started to get to know him? Like, I was in his head. I lived his memories. And then he decided to unwrite himself from existence right in front of me and Paimon and Nahida.”
“You are handling this remarkably well,” was all he could think to say. He really wasn’t, but he wanted to keep the man talking.
“Haaaa,” Aether wheezed. He looked down at his nonexistent watch. “I’ve got about… oh, two more days before reality sets in? Maybe? I don’t really know anymore. It’s kinda been hit after hit since coming to Teyvat.”
He threw back the last of his cocktail and flagged down the waiter for another once. “I’m sorry about dumping all this at once. It’s just the last thing on a string of other things, you know? And I’ve got this horrible dark secret that I can’t tell anyone - except my sister maybe, but Heavens know what her problem is - and I figured you’d get it.”
Kaeya leaned away from him a bit without meaning to. The waiter dropped off the cocktail with a glass of water, which was ignored.
“You know we used to do everything together? I’m sure someone could argue that we were too dependent on each other but I think being overly clingy is better than being alone, you know? I really don’t know what I’m going to do if we can’t talk things out at the end. I don’t think I can handle fighting her.”
Holy Himmel on toast, this was a lot. Kaeya eyed the cocktail steadily draining from the other man’s glass. “Er… How much have you had to drink?”
“Not enough,” he laughed. “Anyway, normally I’d just go cry in the woods but I don’t want Paimon to worry. Supposedly it’s bad to be alone for this kind of thing and I don’t have my sister anymore, so.”
Kaeya cleared his throat and gently took the glass from his hand. “Well I’m glad you came to me. I’m happy to be here for you.”
Aether flashed him a look, his eyes unnaturally bright. “You better be about to cool that and not give me crap for solving my problems with alcohol.”
“Certainly not!” He wasn’t that hypocritical. “I’m just… concerned, is all. You’ve rejected me every time I’ve asked you for drinks in the past and three cocktails in ten minutes is a bit much.”
He clapped his hands together in a praying motion over his chest. “I’m using it to get through today and tomorrow until I can stuff this down and not have to worry about it anymore, ‘kay? Let me have this.”
“Okay, okay,” he relented and returned the glass, giving it a courtesy chill once again.
Aether took another concerningly large sip, starting to slur. “Thank you. And thank you for trying to look out for me. I’m sorry I’m so crabby.”
This was the strangest comfort session he’d ever had. None of Aether’s outward emotions matched his words or his face. It was like a cheery, manic version of Diluc after his father died – total shock winding tighter and tighter to some explosive conclusion. If he was being honest with himself, it kinda scared him.
All the more reason to stick around. Kaeya nodded towards one of the private rooms, one of his rare genuine moments. “It’s quite alright. You have a lot going on. Do you want to play some cards to take your mind off of it?”
“God, please.”
Kaeya walked the man over to the back room and returned with their drinks after letting the waiter know where they would spend the rest of the evening. Aether sat on the couch - deck shuffled, a nice set of dice laid out, drinking like a fish and holding up surprisingly well. Kaeya nursed a water to sober up and steered the conversation to pleasant things.
“Lisa studied in Sumeru for a time, you know.”
“Mmhm. Cyno mentioned her.”
“Oh, you’ve met General Tightass? Aren’t you well connected.”
Aether raised an eyebrow. “...So are you. How do you know him?”
“He stopped by to help Collei with her thing while she was in Mondstadt. How is she, anyway? Amber said you two met.”
A shadow passed over his face.”She’s doing well. Her Eleazar has been cured, but the nerve damage is permanent.”
“Oh, poor thing. I’m glad it won’t get worse, though.”
“Mm.”
Aether played an intimidating deck full of characters he didn’t even recognize with a strategy so foolproof, anyone could utilize it - even half drunk. Kaeya gave up on winning and just played something for the sake of it.
“Is Amber still mad at you?”
Kaeya took a long sip. “Mm… like genuinely angry or her usual mother-henning?”
“Uh, the… the second one,” he stuttered. “I think.”
“Ah, yes. Her and Eula both. I’ve had my hands full avoiding them instead of working.”
Aether laughed half-heartedly, his eyes unfocusing as he drew another card. “How’s Eula doing?”
“As well as she can. She seems a little better having Mika back. He’s one of the few people that treats her like a normal person.”
“Are all cryo users cursed with being miserable?” he muttered into his drink, slurring so hard it was difficult to make out the words. Kaeya wasn’t sure if he was supposed to hear that or not, so he pretended not to.
Halfway through their third game, Aether looked at his reserve hand and laughed. “Uno.”
“Pardon?”
He laughed again and waved, accidentally showing him his hand of one. “Just a little joke from another world. Lumine and I used to mess with people all the time by referencing things…”
He trailed off with a wistful look off to the side, well and truly plastered. “I miss my sister.”
“I bet,” Kaeya murmured. He watched while the other man tensed, staring at some point on the wall. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Um…”
Aether crossed his arms on the table and laid his head on them, still looking at the wall, unconcerned with bending his cards. He fidgeted with a die while his shoulders hunched up to his ears. Eventually, finally, his face crumbled.
Thank Barbatos, something normal. Kaeya stood and walked around the table as the blonde turned his face into his elbow and collapsed into gross, heavy sobs, apologizing unintelligibly.
“It’s okay,” Kaeya crooned.
He half laughed, though it turned into a hysterical hiccup halfway through. “This is why I d–don’t drink more. I start crying and I can’t stop.”
He sat next to him on the couch and slung an arm over his shoulder, eyeing the assortment of empty cocktail glasses. “You did a little more than drink, buddy. You had enough to put most Mondstadters to shame.”
“Oh s-screw you.”
He laughed at the halfhearted retort and pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay. You don’t have to hold anything back. Your good friend Kaeya’s got you, alright?”
Aether whined and stiffened in his arms. “You were having a nice night!”
“And I still am.”
“Would you quit lying for five minutes?”
Kaeya blinked a couple times and fought the urge to edge away from him. Aether groaned and knotted his fingers in his bangs.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. That was mean.”
“It’s… okay. You may have a point,” he conceded. There was a very low chance that he’d remember tonight, so he could afford more honesty than usual. “But I promise I’m not lying. I’m having a wonderful night. You so rarely allow me to treat you, after all.”
“But I’m paying for this,” Aether mumbled, steadily getting his breathing under control.
“Whatever you say.”
“I am!”
Kaeya gave him a rough, playful shake, glad to irritate him out of his sads. “You know, being the person that the Hero of Mondstadt goes to for comfort does good things for my image. Truly, I’m honored.”
“Shush.”
“I mean it!” He rested his chin on Aether’s opposite shoulder, stretching across his back and enveloping him in what he hoped was a comforting warmth. Crepus used to do something similar when he was young and emotional-er. “You’re very small to be holding so many big emotions inside. You need to let them out sometimes.”
“But I do! I talk about feelings all the time!”
Kaeya smiled. “Other people’s don’t count.”
He grumbled and slumped into his arms, his forehead falling to the table. Kaeya carefully moved his cards out of harm’s way - oh hey, he had Cyno - and rubbed his shoulder. “Why don’t you tell me about your feelings, hm? I’m dying to know more about them. You always put on such a cheerful front.”
“Betcha know lllot ‘bout that…”
“Hey, this is about you, not me.”
Aether went to point at him and nearly slapped him in the face. It was only Kaeya’s slowly returning sobriety that allowed him to catch his hand before he lost the other eye.
“So you admit it!” the blonde crowed.
“Stop deflecting.”
“You fhirst.”
Kaeya guided his hand back to the table and laid his own head next to it, now on eye level with his companion, and ignored the comment. Which wasn’t deflecting. It was intentional steering, which was totally different. “Tell me more about what’s going on. Your frenemy threw himself into Irminsul and you miss your sister. What else is circling in that pretty head of yours?”
It was hard to tell at this angle, what with Aether’s face still pointed at the table, but Kaeya could just barely see the light fade from his eyes.
“That… that’s mostly it. I’m just so sick of people leaving me.”
“Leaving you? Who’s left you?”
The door opened. Kaeya made a gesture across his neck and the waiter politely ducked back out without his charge noticing.
“Sameer! And… and Lumine.”
He had a pretty good idea, but, “Who’s Lumine?”
“My sister!”
“I thought you two were separated?”
“We were, but… but I found her.”
Kaeya squeezed him a little tighter to mask the genuine surprise. “Oh? What happened? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Because she left ,” he hissed. He curled his arms tighter around his head, his hands moving to twist in his hair, and Kaeya had to strain to hear him. “She’s the Abyss Princess, Kaeya! O-or maybe it’s not her? Maybe it’s just someone that looks like her? No, no, she knew my name. It had to be her. It was her!”
Oh, wow. He had a sneaking suspicion - there weren’t a whole lot of golden-haired monarchs around - but he’d never actually met the woman. He’d only heard stories about a white dress and an otherworldly glare.
“Gods… I wish I had more information for you,” Kaeya murmured. It’d been so long since he’d been in any real contact with the Abyss. Not since the Incident, anyway.
The smaller man shifted in his arms and looked at him with big, wet eyes. “Really?”
An odd expression. Kaeya frowned and nodded. “Really. I’d tell you anything that I thought was useful.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me about Lumine? Why didn’t you tell me that she was the Princess?”
The accusation might as well paralyzed him. His heart practically hammered out of his chest until he realized that Aether was just… looking at him. A little hurt, but not enraged – not so consumed by grief and shock that he’d act out (and certainly too drunk to do anything effective if he did).
“I– I didn’t know,” he said honestly. “Why would I know that?”
“You’re Khaenri’an.”
He hadn’t told him that. Did Diluc finally get sick of covering for him? Or at least make a decent enough friend to share the burden with? Kaeya scrambled for an explanation, or an excuse or something, before eventually settling on asking.
“How do you know that?”
Aether just pointed at his uncovered eye.
“Oh.”
And now he felt silly. Aether blinked at his reaction. “Wait, is that’a… really offensive assumption? Did I just do a microaggression?” He surged forward without waiting for a response, assaulting Kaeya with liquor breath and grabbing him by the front of the shirt. “Mm so sorry.”
“No no, it’s okay,” he babbled and pushed the blonde off of him. Good heavens, he hoped he wasn’t like that when he was drunk. “It’s a fair assumption.”
He set the man back in his own seat and waited to make sure he wasn’t about to pitch over before returning to the half-hug, half laying together position. “You could say I’m Khaenri’an, but I know as little about the inner workings of the Abyss as you do.”
He wished he could say that he would’ve shared everything if he did know, if he was still close with them, but he didn’t feel like lying tonight. Aether didn’t deserve that. Instead, he rubbed little circles into his bicep and gave him a sad smile. “Does anyone else know? Have you talked to someone about it?”
“Dain knows, but he won’t talk to me…”
“Dain?”
“Mmmhmm…”
“Who’s Dain?”
“Some guy… seems important.”
Aether was now slurring so hard it was nearly impossible to understand him. The buzzing undertones didn’t help, somewhere between the crackle of a campfire and an auditory version of the feeling one got right before lightning struck. It sounded like raw energy, if he had to be artsy about it. How on earth he made that sound with his mouth, Kaeya had no idea and was not drunk enough to ask.
Instead he gave him a little shake to get him to open his eyes again. “How you feeling, kiddo?”
“I’m older than youuu…”
“Wanna go to bed?”
“Mm…”
Kaeya chuckled, grateful for the drunken sleepies to finally take and relieve some of his suffering. He carefully stood and patted his companion on the shoulder. “I’m gonna go pay the tab. I’ll be right-”
“Huh? No… I…” Aether trailed off and started fumbling at his pockets. He patted them down without actually getting his hands inside, swearing indistinctly.
“I’ll be right back,” Kaeya repeated.
He ignored the blonde’s protests, paid both their tabs and returned to an absolutely miserable sight - Aether with his chin on the table, pouting furiously, eyebrows drawn as tight as they could go and his arms hanging limp at his sides. He said something in a different language as soon as Kaeya walked in. He chose to assume it was a compliment.
He walked around to his side and put their cards and dice away, careful not to bend… whoever Ayaka was. Gold eyes tracked his movements with an accompanying growl.
“How mush wasit?”
“A hundred mora.”
Aether squinted at him and he barely kept from laughing. “You lie.”
“Honest! They were having a special,” he absolutely lied.
He finished putting their things away while his drunken companion slurred out a few more lines of astral nonsense. Once done, Kaeya went to his side and smiled down at him. “Let’s get you home, alright?”
“Okay…”
“Come on,” he grunted and struggled to get the shockingly heavy man to his feet. What was he made of? He awkwardly stooped to get Aether’s arm over his shoulder and tucked his other around his waist, then steered him towards the door.
“Where’s Paimon?” Kaeya asked as soon as they were outside.
Aether just shook his head, his hair bunching where his braid met the rest of it. “No… I don’t want her to see me like this. Please don’t get her.”
“I’m not, I’m not. I just want to know if she’ll be okay for the night. I’m going to take you back to my place.”
“I’ll be okay,” he said, clearly not okay. He sucked in a chestful of air and squeezed his eyes shut. “I jus… need a second… ‘n then I can get the teapot…”
“I have never seen you this upset before,” Kaeya said, nevermind that he’d never seen him upset period. “I’m not leaving you alone.”
He sniffed and wiped his face on his arm. Kaeya handed him a handkerchief from his pocket.
“Ugh, thank you.” He covered his face with it. “Paimon’s at Albedo’s with Klee, but I told her… told her I’d be back t’night.”
“Alright. I’ll drop you off at my place and then let them know you’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”
“Kaeya!”
“I’m not asking. Now come on.”
They stumbled to Kaeya’s apartment without incident. The cool night air had a sobering effect on his companion and soon he was walking almost under his own power, mumbling quietly in his own language. Kaeya fumbled to get his door open with the dead weight and nearly fell inside, but managed to catch them both on the frame.
“Oof. Heh, here we are! Casa del Kaeya!”
He cringed as he looked around, Aether too busy struggling to get his boots off to pay attention. Good gods, he never realized how many bottles he had lying around. He almost looked like a proper Mondstadt alcoholic. He meant to take the glass to Albedo and Diluc for reuse, but it’d been a few… months, since he got around to it last, so he frantically started shoving things out of eyesight before his guest could judge him.
“You don’t have to clean,” Aether’s small voice echoed behind him.
“It’s just a little tidying up,” he chuckled weakly. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”
He led his charge through a hallway and pointed to the bathroom on the way. “Here’s the bathroom. Lemme go change the bedsheets real quick.”
“Kaeya…”
The blonde followed him to his bedroom where he set about stripping the bed. He looked pathetic leaning in the doorway, hugging his arms and dazedly looking around. “You don’t have to do all this.”
“It’s nothing. Just let me look out for you, alright?”
“Okay…”
Kaeya fluffed the newly recased pillows, of which he had many, and then gestured to the fresh bed, discreetly kicking his dirty laundry underneath it as he did. “It’s ready, your highness.”
Aether chuckled and went to unbuckle the arm straps of his armor crop top thing - impractical, but Kaeya had no right to judge - and attempted to shimmy out of it. He got stuck with the tight leather around his face and biceps and whined.
“Oh dear.” Kaeya went to his side and lifted, careful not to pull his hair, but alas.
“Ow.”
“Sorry, sorry,” he crooned. He paused his tugging and on a whim checked under his cape. “...There’s two buckles in the back that you didn’t undo.”
“Oh yeah... That makes sense. I thought it was easier to get off than this.”
Kaeya shook his head, undid the clasps and pulled the armor off in one smooth motion. The smaller man sagged forward with a content sigh.
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. Now, bed.”
Aether complied and awkwardly crawled into bed, not even protesting as Kaeya tucked the sheets around him and patted his head. “I’m going to get you some water and then go check on Paimon. I’ll be right back.”
“Hmphrr.”
“Well said.”
Kaeya hurried out the door to the Chief Alchemist’s place after setting a glass of water on the nightstand. It only took a few short minutes to arrive, met with the cheerful sounds of children yelling at each other drifting through the window. He knocked and let himself in.
“Heyyy guys!”
“Kaeya!”
“Oh, hello Captain Kaeya.”
“UNCLE KAEYA!!!”
Klee’s tackle nearly knocked the wind out of him, but he had sobered enough to avoid falling backwards and splitting his head on the flagstones. He swung her up onto his hip and bounced her a few times, wincing slightly at the happy squealing so close to his ear.
“Well hello to you too! How’s my favorite kid doing?”
“Goooood! Paimon’s here! She’s the best.”
He chuckled and set her back down on her own feet. “Yes, she is. Speaking of Paimon,” he asked and looked up to the alchemist sitting on the couch, practically buried in stuffed animals, still wearing his usual neutral expression. He snorted once at the image and continued. “Mr. Albedo, would you mind watching her for the night? The Traveler fell asleep early.”
“Of course. I don’t mind.”
Paimon fluttered up to his face. “What? Why? What’s wrong with him? He said he’d be back for Paimon by now.”
“He’s perfectly fine, but he said he doesn’t want you to be bored or worry about him.” The best lies had a kernel of truth, after all. “It’d be best if you stay here for the night. Is that alright?”
She pouted and put her fists on her hips.
“He’ll be fine,” he reiterated. “Uncle Kaeya’s looking out for him.”
She squinted. “You’re just going to take him out drinking, aren’t you?”
Oh if only she knew. He crossed his arms and fixed her with an equally stern face. “Tch, you think so little of me. If you must know, he is currently tucked in bed at my place sleeping off a heavy meal.”
She gasped. “You ate without Paimon?!”
“Albedo fed you!”
“I did,” the alchemist chimed in from his plushie pile. Klee had run over and was pushing more onto him.
“Well, yes, but, but!”
“It’s one night, Paimon. Just let him sleep it off. He’s got a lot going on.”
“So does Paimon!” she yelled and stamped her foot mid-air.
She probably did. She never left Aether’s side, and while she might be a bit too young to get the same kind of internal complexity in her problems, that didn’t make her suffering any less real. He reached out and rubbed her tiny shoulder. “I know, I know, but trust me, okay? He’s already asleep. Wouldn’t you rather talk to Klee and Albedo about what’s going on than wait around for him to wake up?”
Albedo leaned forward, dislodging a few stuffed animals much to his sister’s complaints, observant as always. “Oh? Is something the matter, Paimon?”
That got her to cringe down. She looked uncharacteristically worried, glancing between the two men and wringing her hands. “Er… um…”
Kaeya dropped his voice to a whisper and bent down to get a good look into her face. “See? He cares about you just as much as the Traveler does. You can talk to him about the stuff that’s been bothering you.”
“Um… are you sure it’s okay?”
“Absolutely. He’s a very good listener.” That… wasn’t strictly true, but he put the effort in when it mattered. “The Traveler told me a little bit about recent events. You should talk to him. You’ll feel better.”
Paimon bit her lip and curled on herself, poor thing. Kaeya scooped her into a hug and patted the back of her head. “I should get back home, but I just wanted to let you know what’s going on. Will you be alright?”
She tentatively hugged him back and nodded into his chest.
“Good, good. In that case,” he released her. “Bye Klee! Good night, Albedo. Thank you again.”
He left them to their discussion, pausing at the door to make sure Paimon actually went over to the other adult to talk to him, then made his way home.
That was a load off. Kaeya jogged back to his own house and let himself in quietly, then went to check on his guest. He expected to find Aether fast asleep, hopefully without puke, but instead found eerie gold eyes staring back at him from the dark. Kaeya did a double take before getting ahold of himself. “Oh, hey.”
“Hello,” came the tiny reply.
He went to sit on the edge of the bed and rubbed Aether’s bare back. He had taken his braid out at some point, blonde hair sprawling out behind him. “How are you feeling?”
“Blegh.”
“I bet. Why aren’t you asleep?”
Kaeya stiffened as the smaller man curled around him, hugging him tight around the waist. “Dun wanna… be alone.”
“Hey, hey, it’s alright. I’m back now.”
“Mmm…”
He carefully peeled the arm off of him, struggling a bit with the iron grip. “Alright, I’m back. I’m gonna go sleep on the couch, okay? You sleep well.”
“Don’t leave me…”
Kaeya pouted and scooted away. “I’m not leaving you. I’ll be in the living room, not twenty feet away.”
He was going to say more, but the absolute despair in the other man’s eyes gave him pause.
“Please?”
“I… alright.”
“Thank you.”
Kaeya stood and pulled his shirt off, then kicked his boots to the foot of the bed. He groaned and flopped down next to Aether, stretching out as best he could without touching him.
His efforts were in vain. The other man shot right to his side and curled there like a cat, back pressed tight to his ribs, breath finally deepening in the transition to sleep.
He might as well. Kaeya slung an arm over his side and the blonde hugged it to his chest. It was comforting and warm, a little too warm for this weather if he was being honest, but whatever. “Good night, Aether.”
“G’night… thanks again…”
Kaeya wiggled into a more comfortable position and idly hoped that his companion wouldn’t be embarrassed in the morning. It’d been forever since he’d shared a bed with someone and he was grateful that Aether was content to curl next to him rather than insist on a full-on cuddle.
He laid there until his bedmate was out cold, which didn’t take long. He could slip away and take the couch - not like Aether would remember any of this - but… it was better to stay. There was nothing worse than getting abandoned in your sleep.
He would know.
So, Kaeya tried to relax and breathe in time with his companion, slowly drifting to a steady sleep himself. He’d rest well knowing everything was going to be alright, and hopefully tomorrow would be easier on his companion than today had been.