I've rejected affection
for years and years
Valentine by Laufey
As the sun set in the distance, y/n and Aether's conversations emerged quickly into happy tales and jokes.
Though it might have seemed like Aether was just talking to himself, the interaction happening between the two was real, and felt magical.
"I knew someone who enjoyed this cliff a lot. You'd know him as that pretty famous bard." The blond boy started, munching into an apple.
"You mean Venti? I never knew."
"I'm sure you'll get to see him again."
The silence stretched on for a bit longer. Yet it was a comfortable silence.
"Will everything be ok? Like with the fatui." y/n suddenly wrote in their book and faced it towards the boy.
He swallowed his bite, and stared at the curious person beside him. Almost as if he was lost in thought, he shook his head quickly and answered their question, "Things are.. difficult. But everything will be fine soon."
Y/n caught on when Aether started fidgeting with his hands, so they decided not to make him uncomfortable with the topic any longer.
-
"You should have brought me~ That could've been so fun!" Lumine squealed, sitting at the edge of y/n's bed.
After the sun set in the distance, the two decided to head back home. Upon entering, y/n was engulfed in questions by the blonde girl, and dragged to their bedroom by Lumine to talk about what they did, which is how they ended up here.
"We only did small things though. Me and you could try doing something else again together." Y/n suggested, placing the notebook beside them.
A comfortable silence swept between the two as y/n got up to water the plants and herbs around their bedroom. The soft humming coming from their mouth and the cozy environment was enough to lull anyone into a comfortable slumber, but Lumine had too much roaming her mind.
She wanted an answer from y/n, so she was going to get one.
"Hey, y/n?" She called out when y/n placed the watering can down.
They stopped humming and looked towards Lumine inquisitively. She patted the spot towards her, and y/n sat beside her on the edge of the bed. They grabbed their notebook and wrote to Lumine.
"What's wrong? If you want to leave you can."
"That's not it, n/n. I was curious about something." Lumine said quietly, causing the e/c eyed person to nod towards her.
"Hah.. how should I put this.." The girl spoke, sitting criss-crossed towards y/n.
For a few seconds Lumine mumbled a few sentences, leaving y/n confused until she suddenly looked up and towards them, "How do you feel about my brother?"
Y/n only stared at Lumine, trying to piece together what she meant until they wrote, "He's cool? I mean he saved me from thieves a month ago so" Their sentence was cut off when Lumine took the pen from y/n and sighed.
"Not like that n/n." She then grabbed their shoulders and shook them back and forth. "Are you in love with Aether?"
Y/n just stared at Lumine. Just a blank stare. No confusion, no surprise. It was almost as if she killed them. Lumine slowly pushed the book towards what could've been mistaken as a corpse, and slowly they moved to grab it.
Y/n picked up the book and they seemed to gain their emotions back. Hesitating, they wrote down a simple yet honest answer, and turned it towards the blonde girl. She smiled in response and patted y/n on the back.
"Honestly, I don't know. But there are times where I feel as though Aether makes me way too happy for my own good."
-
The following day, y/n and Lumine decided to go to the cliff again. So, after breakfast y/n had grabbed their notebook and sprinted towards the door with Lumine trailing behind.
"I'm going to the cliff with Lumi." Y/n wrote and showed to Aether before quickly running out the door with Lumine behind them.
He smiled at the actions of the two, and turned back to the sink while shouting towards them, "Be safe!"
Lumine had run in front of y/n and grabbed their hand, bringing them to a patch of cecilias.
"Let's collect these, we can make flower crowns out of them." She smiled softly and crouched beside the white flowers.
Y/n leaned down to her level, letting the floral scent from the cecilias breeze gently towards them, and breeze in the wind. They gently plucked a flower from the ground and turned to Lumine to see her running around and doing the same. Y/n smiled to themself and copied her actions, pulling the flower from the ground and tucking it lightly under their arm.
Once the both of them had a large stack of the white flower, they came together around the bottom of the cliff, and laid them on the ground.
"Here, you can twist it around and pull the stem through, making them attached. Just keep doing it with each flower, you'll get the hang of it." Lumine explained, showing a brief demonstration of what she was talking about.
Y/n nodded quickly and did what she said. Creating a loop around each stem, pulling it through, and repeating with each. Yet when they finished it looked sloppy and unfinished. They turned quickly to Lumine who had been doing the same process, yet hers looked elegant, and neat. A look of confusion dawned over them and they groaned.
They gently untangled each stem and started again. Exactly like Lumine did, they looped it, and connected each stem but it seemed to look even worse than before. Again, they repeated the process, and again, and again.
By this point, Lumine had already made three flower crowns, and was just watching y/n struggle. She sighed, and reached out to the struggling h/c haired person, "You've been doing it correctly, but try pulling it through at this angle, and pulling lighter."
Y/n watched as Lumine took their hands and weaved them in what seemed like circles. Each intricate and memorised. They watched in shock as their crown had changed drastically, and slowly turned into what seemed like a complete project. Though it still had a few extra knots and bent stems, it looked nice.
"THANK YOU LUMI" y/n wrote out quickly, gleaming at the now finished cecilia crown.
They were proud of themself. It was the first time they were able to focus on figuring something out and completing it correctly, plus it wasn't medicine.
They smiled at the crown, and gently hugged it against their chest with a calm expression covering their face. Lumine suddenly got up and dusted herself off, causing y/n to quickly look up at her.
"You wanna help me grab some more cecilias? I wanna make an extra one." Lumine said and placed her hands on her hips.
Y/n responded with a nod and made their way further down the hill to collect some of the flowers they ignored. Slightly stumbling over their steps, they finally made it to a patch of cecilias and kneeled on the ground collecting each one delicately. Pulling the weed out and holding it gently. That was, until they were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Ah cutie, I'm glad I found you here~" She cooed which caused y/n to freeze.
They sucked in a short breath and hid their face into their shirt, hoping the familiar Mondstadt herbalist would leave thinking they're a different person. Their heart sunk and they felt themselves trembling under her gaze.
"Y'know cutie, just because you can't see me doesn't mean I can't see you." she chuckled softly.
Y/n slowly turned to Lisa, revealing her sickly sweet smile. It made the colour from their face fade, and they slowly stood up, clutching the flowers tightly in a fist. And as the light-brown haired woman took a slow stop forward, y/n raced up the hill, tripping over each step they took.
"Wait! Y/n I'm not going to report you to the knights." She yelled, following the panicked person.
Y/n stopped, and glared behind at her. The wind brushing through their hair, their shadow casting over their face as the sun gleamed behind them, and the height of them standing up on the hill. The sight was mesmerising, yet terrifying. Lisa sweat dropped at the figure, and held out a bag.
"I have some herbs I thought you'd want. Must not be easy collecting them out here." she said slowly, eyes not leaving y/n.
Slowly, they made their way down the hill and stood in front of Lisa. They slowly reached out their hand to take the bag, causing Lisa to suck in a short breath, until they stopped when a voice yelled behind them.
"Y/NNNNNNNN!"
The said person stopped halfway through their action, and turned at the sound of quick footsteps stumbling down the hill, yet when they faced the direction they were instead pulled into something.
Once Aether had gotten down the cliff, he latched his hand around y/n's waist and pushed their face against his chest. With deep pants he summoned his sword and faced it towards Lisa and glared at her.
"What are you doing with y/n?" he scowled, and tightened his grip around their waist.
The herbalist sighed, and looking Aether in the eye, "I was exploring the area and saw y/n. I had a bag of herbs and since they came to my shop a lot I thought they'd want it." she explained slowly.
Aether glared at the woman for a few more seconds, his grip on his sword as tight as it could be, then it vanished. His sword disappeared and he snatched the bag from her grasp. Lisa let out a sigh of relief.
"I should be going now then, sorry for disturbing you." She said quickly and turned around, before being stopped by Aether.
"You do not speak of seeing us. Ever." he said coldly, not giving any remorse for his old friend.
Lisa nodded at him, then ran out of sight. He sighed, and held on to y/n for a moment longer. Lumine started yelling in the distance, causing him to let go and grab y/n's hand, dragging them up the hill.
"I don't think I need to remind you that even though we're far out you can still be caught. Especially if you're wanted like that." He said slowly, yet his tone of voice didn't show he was as mad as his words meant.
Y/n only nodded in response, and Aether led them inside, "I need to speak with Lumine. You stay here." Then he shut the door and walked to where Lumine was standing.
Y/n sighed, and placed their flower crown on the table, walking to the living room to rest.
-
"Lumine! That was dangerous. What if Lisa did contact the knights and y/n was taken?" Aether scolded her, receiving a glare from Lumine.
"Well she didn't. And think about it, if you did the exact same thing me and y/n were doing it would be fine. It's always fine if it's just you! Let me guess, you were just jealous." Lumine stated.
"Jealous? Lumi y/n could have gotten hurt because of you. How is that jealousy?" He groaned, and lifted the bag up to examine it. "Whatever, I'm gonna make sure there's no tracking devices here."
As he opened the basket, he started coughing, and the smell of smoke covered his face. "Eugh, Lumine what is it-"
Lumine started coughing as well, her eyes getting watery from the smoke coming from the bag. She picked up the bag and dumped out its contents. Yet, instead of the promised herbs all they found was a smoke contraption and a paper.
Aether easily blew away the smoke with his anemo and rubbed his eyes, glaring down at the paper. Lumine created a geo rock and crushed the smoke device. The blond boy picked up the letter, reading it out to himself.
His eyes widened, and his breath stopped. He didn't want this to happen. He knew it would, just not now. Not yet. He wasn't prepared. Instead he shoved the paper in Lumine's arms and ran towards the door, opening it quickly only to be met with the inside of an abandoned shelter. The previous spot the door led to.
"She changed the door!" He yelled, slamming the door, and continuously opening it.
Lumine furrowed her eyebrows at his reaction, but read through the letter and felt the same sinking feeling in her stomach.
"Dear Aether and company,
Because you failed to accept her request before the Tsaritsa is going to hold y/n l/n captive. In return for their freedom you will help with her plan, and go through with every command she gives. Do not make the wrong choice, Aether.
-Balladeer
Sixth Fatui Harbinger"
-
"Did you do it?" The hot headed boy scowled at the herbalist as she walked down the hill.
"Yes. Aether took the bag." Lisa responded, quietly.
"Good. In return for this I'll make sure they don't fully hurt y/n" he smiled. Not kindly, but sinisterly. With malice poisoning his face.
"You said you wouldn't hurt them at all." She scoffed.
He only glared, and started walking away, "I don't make promises."
As Lisa saw the short boy walking away, she clenched her fist and walked back towards Mondstadt.
"You better keep your word,
Scaramouche."