"I'M BAAAAAAACK!!" I called throughout the house as I slammed open the wooden door. The groceries swung in my hands and Venti ambled in behind me.
Immediately I heard four pairs of footsteps coming towards me, some more frantic than others.
"If you all try to hug me while I'm in the doorway holding groceries, none of you are getting hugs!" You huffed with amusement as you heard all footfalls come to a halt. "Take your shoes off Venti."
"Why?" He whined playfully. "They aren't dirty!"
"We just walked across the country, they're dirty. Take them off."
Venti groaned as you both shucked off your shoes and made it to the kitchen to put the food down, and then to the living room where everyone was waiting patiently. Kaeya and Diluc were sharing a couch while Aether and Ariel sat on the floor near the coffee table.
You sighed, catching their attention. "Alright, go ahead."
With no time to waste, Aether shot up from his spot on the floor and leaped at you. You had just a moment to catch the legs that wrapped around your waist, the arms around your neck, and the head buried in the crook of your neck. You tilted back for a moment before righting yourself, your own arms going around Aether's back to keep him steady as he clung to you like a koala.
"Damn, you got some power in your legs."
"Been saving up these past few days so I could do this." Aether's warm breath hit your neck as petulantly murmured, making you chuckle.
Ariel had come up beside the both of you, leaning his head against yours and putting a hand to Aether's head so the traveler would know he's there. You leaned into Ariel's gentle warmth, comforted in his presence after being cold for so long. The aches in your body seemed to soothe simply by being close.
You pressed a soft kiss to Aether's forehead and set him down. Looking over to Diluc and Kaeya, who both sat tensely on the couch, you waved them over. They stood up and you rolled your eyes at their stiffness before hooking an arm around each of their necks and pulling them into an embrace. Kaeya is the first to let his arm wrap around your waist, Diluc following soon after. The three of you stood there for a moment, a silent comfort. When they pulled back, you noticed the relieved smile on Kaeya's face, the glint of amusement in his eyes, and you see the pink high on Diluc's cheeks and his soft eyes.
Diluc cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly as if to bat something away. "If you've been alright, where did you land when you went through the portal?"
"Oh!" You let out a reassuring smile. "I fell into Sumeru, but there's no need to worry. I got picked up and healed by a good doctor for a few days of unconsciousness, then went to Liyue, then to Mond. So everything worked out just fine."
When Aether, who hadn't let go of your waist, his head on your shoulder, tightened his arms you sighed. "Okay, now that I'm here and fine, why don't I make some dinner and we can all relax, hm?"
You hand went to pat Aether's head, pausing when you felt his hair undone and riddled with tangles. "Kaeya, Diluc, Venti, Paimon go sit on the couch. Aether and Ariel, you're helping me in the kitchen."
"Why don't we get to help?" The little fairy whined. "How long is dinner going to take anyway? Paimon's hungry." She groaned, holding her stomach pitifully.
"You don't get to help because I'm 99% sure you'd mess it up somehow," ignoring the indigent 'hey!' you turned to the other three. "And six people in our small kitchen is too much. Entertain yourselves."
"Entertain ourselves with what?" Diluc scoffed, pointing to Venti. "Him?"
"I would never! You don't pay me nearly enough!" Venti crossed his arms, and you heard Kaeya snort behind the hand that had gone up to cover his smile.
"Singing, Venti." You said as you absentmindedly finger-brushed the knots in Aether's hair.
"Oh... well you don't pay me enough for that either."
"I don't pay you at all."
"Well maybe you should." Venti huffs, but a small smirk creeps on his face. "Perhaps you'd get better service that way."
Diluc's face flushed red as his lips set in a scowl, his hands loosely clenched like it was taking everything in his power to stop himself from strangling the bard. Kaeya couldn't hide his amusement any longer and burst out into peals of laughter, which only had Diluc turning his glare on him.
Kaeya's louds laugh turned sheepish when he saw the fiery gaze narrowed on his figure. "Now Diluc, let's not get worked up."
The two of them stood in place, completely frozen before Diluc jerked and lunged towards Kaeya, the captain only just managing to move out of the way with a small yelp.
You rolled your eyes with a small smile and tugged Aether and Ariel into the kitchen, Venti's bell-like laugh and cries of 'This is very unprofessional Master Diluc!' behind you. "Don't break anything!"
-
Pulling out the necessary ingredients, pans, and cutlery, you and your two companions got to work.
"Okay, Aether, Ariel, you two prepare the breadcrumbs and egg mixture with all the spices, and I'll be thinning the meat to get it half a centimeter."
You laid out the slabs of beef you got from the general store only moments ago and began to mercilessly smash it with your mallet, thinning it until you got it to the size you wanted. From the corner of your eye, you could see Aether preparing a plate of breadcrumbs and Ariel folding parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, chili and other spices into a bowl of several eggs, whisking them together easily.
After thinning the meat, you get a large pan and pour some oil, putting it on the stove and turning on the heat.
You turn to the boys, both of whom are finished with their tasks, and gesture for them to scooch out of the way. "Move, move. Aether, can you get a couple lemons and cut them into fourths for me? And Ariel, another plate and start making the rice, pretty please?"
They both nodded and you began the task of submerging the beef into the egg mixture, dropping it into the breadcrumbs with as little spillage as possible, and then tossing it onto the now heated pan, the oil sizzling around the meat. Flipping when it needed to be flipped and plated when it became a nice dark brown with crunchy edges, it didn't take long for the plate to stack up and the apartment to become littered with the smell of dinner.
You pushed the plate of the steak off to the side, quickly cleaning up and bringing over the finished pot of rice. Getting seven bowls, you filled them with the rice, on another plate you put the lemon slices, and smiled with satisfaction as you placed each bowl of rice into a spot at the table and the plates of steaks and lemons in the center. Topping the table off with seven glasses, a bottle of wine, and a bottle of grape juice you called out for the now calmed down folks in the living room and the two stragglers in the kitchen.
"Dinner's ready everyone! If you don't eat it while it's hot, I'm not heating it up for you!"
Soon enough, everyone was around the table, getting their share of food and pouring their choice of drink.
"What is this?" Kaeya asked as you squeezed a lemon slice over your steak. "I haven't had something like this before."
"Milanesa." You said happily. "My grandmother used to make it all the time. Sometimes it felt like the smell would never leave the house." You noticed Paimon trying to grab a third milanesa. "Hey! Only eat what you can stomach, these make good leftovers. Besides, you still have a ton of rice left. Eat it, it's good for you."
"Paimon doesn't want the rice!" The little fairy whines.
You sighed. "If I make a special treat tomorrow, will you eat your rice?"
Paimon puts a hand to her chin as if she was debating, but you could see the little wiggles in her feet that already indicated a yes. "What kind of treat?"
"A sweet one, it's called flan. I'll make it if you finish your first bowl of rice before you get a third milanesa, okay?"
"Okay, Paimon's convinced!" Paimon began to guzzle her rice and when she was finished, you reluctantly let her take a third milanesa, lamenting about how you wouldn't have any leftovers, so you'd have to cook again tomorrow.
From there, dinner went along as usual. Venti getting on Diluc's nerves, Kaeya laughing at them, Paimon stuffing her face, and you and Ariel sharing looks of amusement at the chaos happening in front of you. Aether had slowly lightened up from the drearier demeanor he had when you first got home. His face was soft and happy, lips twitching into smiles, and his hands had relaxed from their tense posture.
-
The feeling of winding down after such a hectic but wonderful day was nice. Taking a shower, you scrubbed your hair, and cleaned off any remaining dirt from your body that you had acquired after trekking through Mond all morning. You slipped into some sleep clothes and went to go see Aether laying on the couch.
Unlike the others, who had long left by now, some with warm hugs and 'see you soon' and others with threats that if you got kidnapped again, they'd kill you themself (cough-Diluc-cough), Aether had stayed, at first using the excuse to wash the dishes and now simply laying down, a blanket wrapped around him.
Standing in front of the boy, you yanked off the blanket. "Come on Aether, up up. Let's head to bed, it's much more comfortable." You grabbed his hands and gently pulled him up.
"I haven't even asked to stay." He mumbled.
"Do you wanna go? I won't make you stay if you don't want to."
"No, I want to stay." He leaned forward slightly, and you took the hint, wrapping and arm around his shoulder and leading him to your room.
Ariel was laying on his loveseat, Paimon spread across his lap and curled into his oversized coat. His eyes gently fluttered open when he saw you and smiled. You smiled back.
"Do you want to shower first before going to bed?" Aether nodded slowly; his eyes drifting shut as if he was about to fall asleep standing up.
You went over to your dresser and pulled out another pair of your sleep clothes and handed them to Aether. "These might be a little baggy on you, but I promise they're comfy as hell. Now go take a quick shower, you look dead on your feet."
Aether nodded again and disappeared into the bathroom as you got comfortable in bed. Leaning against the headboard you reached for your bag, which you realized must've been brought here by Ariel or Aether when they had come back to Mond. You rummaged around looking for a book when you pulled out the book of dream analysis you had gotten from Ms. Jinfeng so long ago.
"Damn, I forgot I still had this. I'll have to return it."
"Return what?" You nearly jumped out of your skin when you heard Ariel's voice.
"Good lord Ariel, don't do that."
"How else was I supposed to start a conversation?"
You rolled your eyes. "Anyway, I'm talking about the book Ms. Jinfeng lent me about dreams. Given that I've confirmed my dreams really are visions, I don't think I need it anymore. It's not really necessary to interpret something that is meant to be taken literally, yeah?"
Ariel mumbled his agreement as Aether stepped from the bathroom. From there, a routine you hadn't done in over two months came as easy as breathing. Standing Aether in front of the mirror, gently combing out his damp hair, and twisting it into a loose braid with a soft tie for sleep, was done in only a few moments.
Herding the weary traveler into bed, you both snuggled beneath the covers. You notice Aether hesitate before turning over and cuddling into your side. In response, you wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close.
"Is it worth it anymore?"
Your eyes widen when you hear Aether whisper. "Is what worth it?"
You feel Aether sigh against you, his soft breath hitting the junction of your neck.
"Is finding Lumine even worth it? Does she- does she even want to leave with me?" His voice cracks painfully. "Does she even love me anymore?"
"Aether..."
"Because she seems to just love this godforsaken planet." You could feel a tear wet your shoulder as Aether's voice trembled with a growl. "Not even looking at me when we went to rescue you! Why can't she just talk to me, tell me what's happening?! Why did she have to hurt you? Why is she ignoring me? Why can't we just go?!"
You held Aether silently, rubbing a hand up and down his arm.
"Do you think she really doesn't love me anymore?" Aether's voice had gone from breaking and trembling to a scary calm.
"No." you said immediately. "I don't know why she won't talk with you, but I think what she's doing is a little more complex than just wanting to leave you behind, or not loving you anymore."
"Lumine..." you hesitated in your words but decided to plow on anyway. You'd already gotten kidnapped, what else could happen? "Lumine has been on this planet for over five hundred years, it's no wonder she's got attached while waiting for you to wake up again.
I'm not saying that what she's doing is right, quite frankly I don't really know everything about what's going on with her and the abyss, I could only speculate, and I'm not saying that you don't have the right to be hurt about how harshly she's been treating you, because she has been. I'm just saying, I don't think she doesn't love you, and that it's a little more complicated than you or I may know."
Aether laid in silence for a moment. "She's really been here so long?"
"Yeah."
Quietly, he cuddled into you further. "Thanks for listening to me."
"It's what siblings do." You paused. "Well, sometimes. I know from Kaeya and Diluc that not everyone can stand the sappy mushy sibling care that you get from me."
"Well, that sucks for them. I like the sappy mushy sibling care."
"Good, that means I can lay it on thick." Squishing Aether's face you smushed a playful kiss to the middle of his forehead, a dramatic 'mwah!' sound as you did so.
Aether pushed against your shoulders, a betraying grin on his face. "Polaris! Stop it!"
"Just one more!" You smiled as he giggled when you placed another dramatic kiss on his cheek.
Wiping off the tear tracks, you both settled down once more, eyes finally drooping shut and falling to slumber.