A Star's Fate | aether x reader

Chapter 23-

"Look how barren this place is! We need to go shopping today," you remarked, waving your fork around the room, "Plusss there might be some discounts 'cause of Lantern Rite."

"So we're going to spend the majority of our hard-earned mora on some furniture just to make this place look nicer even though we spend the majority of our time outside in the real world?" Aether flatly questioned as he took another bite of his breakfast.

"Speak for yourself, I'd chill in here all day if I could; it's so peaceful," you replied.

The blonde shrugged, "Alright then, I guess there's no arguing with you."

~

Several hours later, you were leading Aether by the arm to another merchant's establishment even though his hands were already full of bags and numerous stacked boxes atop them. As for the actual furniture you were supposed to be buying, whenever you purchased a particular large piece, you and Aether would drag it over to a street corner and one of you would take it into the teapot. This continued for a few times until Aether argued that was enough. The day had still barely just started though, so you dragged the blonde to simply 'look' and not purchase anything else.

"Ooooh look at these cushions!" you exclaimed at you picked one up. They were made of a lovely soft velvet and held deep rich colours.

"250,000 mora..." Aether uneasily read off the price tag.

"We have that," you stated.

"That's what you said the last 20 times and look where that led us," he gestured his head to the amassed pile in his arms.

"Yeah well—"

"My, I didn't expect you two to be here today," came the sensual voice of the Tianquan from behind you. She greeted you with a smile as you turned around. Today it seemed she was wearing something different than usual, a midnight blue evening gown tailored perfectly to her figure with light gold accents and a feathery butterfly motif.

"Yeah right, you probably had your spies following us around the place," you crossed your arms.

She chuckled, "Even if they were, they don't report back to me immediately."

"How reassuring," Aether commented.

"Yeah... well anyways, you look nice today Ningguang," you complimented and Aether nodded.

She gave a closed-eye smile, "Thank you both. I have plans later this evening and it simply saves me the hassle. But besides that, I apologise for interrupting what seemed like a loving bicker between you two."

"Loving?" you questioned.

"Why of course, the way you were prancing about the stalls with Aether trailing behind carrying all of your shopping, anyone would think you were a couple."

Both your and Aether's cheeks warmed and you turned away from each other, not knowing what to say.

"So you were watching us!" you exclaimed in an attempt to change the subject.

Ningguang giggled, "I'll leave you two to it then, farewell for now." She turned as you both muttered your goodbyes.

You continued to watch her as she returned to an unfamiliar woman who appeared to be waiting nearby. She was dressed in bright red-pink, eyepatch over one eye and waist-length brown hair. She also donned an electro vision hanging from her waist. But most importantly, she was carrying a variety of bags and boxes similarly to Aether, following Ningguang as they headed off deeper into the market.

"Hmmm..." you looked back at Aether.

"Hmm indeed," he echoed.

"So are you buying or not?" the cushion merchant crossed his arms.

You sighed, "I guess not." You put the cushion back in its place and returned to Aether, "Only because I'm so nice."

"Of course," he replied, "Can we go put these in the teapot now? My arms hurt."

~

After neatly arranging all your new furniture how you wanted, you decided to retire upstairs to your room, only to find a grinning blonde in there on your beanbag!

"Get up." you ordered Aether.

"No," he laughed before throwing you a box of cards which you caught. "Come, I found this card game for sale while you were busy obsessing over extremely overpriced cushions."

You layed on your stomach with your arms hanging off the bed while Aether did the same on the beanbag. Between you were laid out a board, some 8-sided dice and Aether's own cards. You took out your's from the box and scrunched your face in confusion.

"Okay I know it looks complicated," he began, "but the merchant explained it to me briefly and it doesn't seem too hard. Lemme show you."

Over the next half hour, Aether proceeded to show you the basics of the game until you had vaguely got the hang of it. The next several hours were then spent playing what was apparently called 'Genius Invokation'. Both of you had lost and won numerous matches, your last game ending in your victory.

You yawned, "Y'know, it's getting pretty late. Think I'm gonna go sleep now."

Aether rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, whatever, have fun with your little victory while it lasts."

"Ha, we'll see about that."

The blonde gathered his cards back together and headed towards the door. Hand hovering over the handle, he paused and turned back to you. "Hey, since tomorrow is the last day of Lantern Rite, how about you go hang out with some of our friends during the day. There's something I wanna do."

"Because that's not obvious as hell," you smirked at him, "but sure, as long as we can watch the firework show in the evening."

"Great! Thanks!" he exclaimed as he dashed out of the room, cheeks tinted pink.

Your smile slowly became a giddy one as you wondered what he was going to do. I mean, you weren't dense, you had some idea of what he could do, but there was still numerous possibilities. Trying to suppress your curiosity, you drifted off to sleep.

____________________

Merr Chrimas

I finally got a new phone yayy. But yea this story is rapidly approaching its end because I really have no more motivation for it. Sorry I couldn't do more.