Mortal Chains (Albedo x Aether)

Ch. 8 Confusion

(Albedo POV)

I decided to take a walk, and it ended in me accidentally eves dropping. I heard two pairs of footsteps, so I quieted my own. It seemed as though the two stopped behind a large tree and sat down. I thought I might as well introduce myself, so as I walked out from behind the tree and faced the two, the sight before me surprised me. Aether was kissing Venti. Or was it the other way around?

"Aether?" I was confused and surprised. It's not like I wanted to catch them doing anything. I saw Aether quickly pull away from Venti, confirming that Venti was the one who kissed him. 

"Hi..." The other man's voice was quiet, guilty almost. The scent of alcohol lingered through the late-night air. 

"I don't care what you do in your free time, seriously I had no idea you were out here." I tried defending myself, yeah right, as if I needed to. A prickling feeling went through my stomach, I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. 

Venti looked bored and quite drunk, my presence did nothing to surprise him, almost as if he were expecting me. The small man eyed me and Aether, sensing an awkward tension. He stood and began wobbling away, understanding we might need time to talk. 

I hoped Venti didn't think I was Aether's ex or something. That would just be awkward.

Slowly, I walked over to the tree and sat down next to Aether. "You alright? Didn't get alcohol poisoning or anything did you?" I knew very well that Venti was one to get alcohol poisoning before Aether, but I wanted to check anyway.

"I'm fine," was Aether's quiet response. 

"Any particular reason for getting drunk with Venti?"

"He offered, I was bored."

I raised an eyebrow while looking at Aether, maybe my rejection was at fault? With a sigh, I stood and held my hand out for Aether to take. "Come on. Let's get you home."

Aether took my hand and we began walking back towards the city of Mondstadt. 

"So you and Venti huh?" I started some small talk, which I was sure Aether didn't want to participate in.

"Not quite, he kissed me. I wasn't expecting it." Aether sheepishly muttered, resulting in a small smile from me. 

-  -  -  -  -  -

As we walked through the gates of Mondstadt, I lead Aether to the place I knew he was temporarily staying at. It was hotel-like, just a few rooms were available to rent there. He seemed to feel bothered with me leading him to somewhere he already knew how to go to. I didn't trust him to do it on his own though, considering he was drunk.

I opened the door to his apartment, the door creaked loudly as it opened.

"Home sweet home." I teased as we entered, and Aether walked far from me and into his apartment. He grabbed a glass and filled it with water to sober himself up. I leaned against the wall nearest to his small kitchen, all was quiet for a bit. The clinking of glass against the countertop interrupted the comfortable silence. 

"It's late, thanks for taking me home. If you'd like, you can stay for the night." Aether offered as he filled himself another glass of water. 

I thought for a moment. Sucrose didn't like the idea of moving in, so my house would be empty and lonely. Maybe it was a good idea to stay, just for the night anyway. I gave Aether a slow nod, to which he smiled. 

He set his glass of water aside and walked past me and down the short hall. There were two doors, one at the end of the hall, and one at the start. Aether went into the room at the end of the hall and brought out a large blanket. "You're taking the couch, my head will hurt in the morning and I don't feel like having my body hurt too." He complained as he tossed the large blanket in my direction.

I caught the blanket and looked over at the couch. It didn't look too uncomfortable, so why did Aether say his body would hurt? With a shake of my head, I walked over to the couch and draped the blanket over it. "Got anything to eat?" 

"Yeah, there should something in the fridge." Aether pointed to the kitchen, where I saw a rather small fridge. Did he seriously not get paid enough to afford a good fridge? I mean, he risks his life almost every day for this? I shook off the thought and grabbed an apple before walking back into the living room. By the time I got back, Aether was already in his bedroom.

I didn't bother to say goodnight, instead, I laid down on the couch and ate my apple. 

'Turns out Aether's pretty rude when he's drunk.' I joked to myself before throwing out the apple core and falling asleep.

(Author's Note: I don't really know where I'm going with this but I was asked to continue it. Plus it's been like a month since I added a chapter. Sorry about that, motivation seems to be pretty damn low at the moment. Oh and if you like Marvel, check out my new story I'm writing. It's actually got me more motivated than this one.)