One-Shot: The Candy that I Had as a Midnight Snack Helped me Graduate from Virginity?!
Xiao wakes up with a jolt, and the first thing he notices is the heat in his groin. Aching, burning with liquid fire, yes, but also covered. Trapped inside layers and layers of fabric.
Aether can’t have me like this, he thinks to himself.
-
Xiao eats aphrodisiac candies and fantasy-Aether fulfills his darkest desires, while real-Aether fumbles through accepting his proposition.
6.4K words || Explicit || Read it here!
Happy birthday to my best yaksha Xiao!!!!
I'm so sorry I drugged you for your birthday... This idea came to me weeks ago when I was trying to give him something nice for his birthday this year. I considered some fluffy established relationship smut, but I struggled to get him to really want anything--- Not that I hc him as having a particularly low sex-drive, but it was just embarrassing. And then my friend suggested the idea of sex pollen and wet dreams, and it just went from there...
Truth be told, I definitely shouldn't have worked on this when I am busy moving literally at this second, but love makes you do ridiculous things. Like writing smut when you should be packing up, or drugging your favourite character into blowing his boyfriend and then not letting him come on his own birthday.
Speaking of birthdays. What the fuck was that birthday letter?? Xiao's closet is wide open and made of glass. I cannot deal with this man anymore. He will be the death of me...
In other news, the next installment of my post-canon series is about 50% done, but I keep rewriting and rearranging the scenes to fit everything I wanted to include, so I can't really say it'll be finished soon... We'll see how many iterations I'd have to go through.
Could I perhaps request a fic in which Collei gets hurt (by someone, up to you how bad it is) and Cynari are there supporting/helping her? I’m in a big hurt comfort mood and love the dads being dads
No pressure at all to actually write this! Thanks for your time anyways, and I love your work!
This was requested to me so, so long ago and I actually had a draft that was vaguely drabble-length... And then I kept changing it and adding to it and somehow 3k words later, here we are...
I will be posting this on Ao3 soon-ish, but I just need it out first and I will proofread later. Haven't decided on a title yet.
Contents: Hurt/Comfort Collei with her parental figures Cyno and Tighnari. The hurt is minimally explored, and I'm pretty dang sure this isn't what you asked for, but nevertheless.
Setting: Canonverse, set before the 3.5 Flagship event "Windblume's Breath". Collei gets hurt and the conversation that follows this incident becomes the catalyst of her inviting Cyno and Tighnari to accompany her to Mondstadt for the first time during Windblume. You are free to interpret Cynonari's relationship as platonic preslash, or established; they're not the center of this.
"She's late, isn't here?" Tighnari murmurs as he puts down the main dish for tonight's dinner, eyes looking over the window.
Collei had finished her work early that Friday, and excused herself to go on a "little trip", promising that she would be back for family dinner Sunday evening. Tighnari doesn't have the heart to tell her that Mondstadian ryegrass is scarcely found in Sumeru's forests, which are predominantly covered by zoysias and carpetgrass. The bunches of ryegrass he finds littering her bag of samples, then, is enough to prove that the little trips she's been going to aren't "little" in the slightest—Nevertheless, he insists to Cyno, he's not planning to point this out any time soon.
Still, the worry in Tighnari's tone doesn't escape the Mahamatra’s ears. He knows how oddly distant Tighnari gets when it comes to Collei's 'secret' trips. Noting this, he silently pulls out a chair and gestures for him to sit down.
"She will get here eventually. Just wait." He says, taking over Tighnari's role of bringing over food from the kitchen.
Within a few seconds of him stepping away, he hears Collei's voice from the front of the hut.
"I'm home! I'm sorry I'm late, There was a passing shower and I had to stop for a while..."
"Welcome back, Collei!" Tighnari greets, smile as kind as ever. His relief only lasted a moment, though, because as soon as Collei stepped further inside, he could see that she was slightly limping.
Not to mention, she has little reason to stop her track for so long because of rain. She was wearing her coat and while it was more than just a little damp, as rainforest dwellers, coming home with a raincoat completely soaked was more than just a common occurrence.
"I'm going to put these in the kitchen and dry my clothes first, and then I'll join you guys!"
She hurriedly walks past the dinner table, motion stiff, and both Tighnari and Cyno scrunch their noses at the scent she carries. freshly cut Aloe Vera, and a bitter flower smell that Tighnari recognizes to be Qingxin.
Tighnari observes her for a while as she puts down her bag on the sofa. He glances over to Cyno with his brow raised, asking to confirm his suspicions.
Cyno has his eyes narrowed as he watches Collei and then looks over to Tighnari to give him a nod.
"I also smell blood," he whispers, barely audible.
That was all that Tighnari needed. He stands up and walks over to Collei, who so far has made no motion to remove her dampened coat, and instead has been fiddling with her stuff in the kitchen.
"Collei," He calls out, and with little to no decorum he adds,
"Show me your leg."
Collei looks at him nervously, but still tries to laugh it off.
"Err, why...?”
"What, you come to dinner smelling like you've coated yourself in blood and aloe, and you expect me to not say anything?" Tighnari scolds, arms crossed in front of his chest. And yet his expression wasn't an angry one.
"Ah... ahaha..." Collei steps away from the kitchen to sit down on the sofa instead. Partly in embarrassment, but also because she couldn't quite decipher what her Master's gaze meant.
Cyno stands up to approach her as well, and she feels the distinct sensation that she is being taken apart.
She opens her coat to show her clearly-injured left leg, and Cyno was half expecting to see an open wound. This is Collei, however; survivor of over a decade of Eleazar, and Tighnari's best pupil. So all he sees is slightly damp and dirty bandages covering her left shin.
"I did try my best! but it has been... a while..."
Since she had to dress her own wounds, Cyno summarizes. And that's a good thing. He walks over to the kitchen, working quickly to gather a new set of bandages to replace the dampened one.
Tighnari lets off an amused huff, though his expression remains pensive. The bandage was made using a different type of fabric, and the salve lacked the tell-tale hints of myrrh and zaytun peach in its odor.
"No, this is better than most emergency first-aids I've seen. You're good at it, as always. Are these Amber's usual supplies?"
"Wh- what makes you think it was Amber's?!" Collei retaliates, her stiff tone showing more guilt than she probably intended there to be.
"...Collei, we prepare our herbs and medicine ourselves. You think I wouldn't notice if you were missing half of the ingredients in your salve?" He challenges.
"Right..." Collei deflates almost immediately.
It was like second nature for Tighnari to kneel down and start taking off the bandage on her leg. Just a few years ago, these bandages were like her second skin. It was weird, seeing them on her again after so long. He gently pulled off the clip and began unraveling the damp fabric, the lower parts of which were dirtied with mud.
Shortly after, Cyno came back from the kitchen with a bowl of warm water in his hand. On his free hand he carried a wad of fresh bandages and a bag of Tighnari's healing salve.
"You seem to be under the impression that I'm not aware of your trips. Just because I do not say anything doesn't mean I don't know."
He says this with a smile, but Collei is looking away, only listening to him with a pained expression. Tighnari silently takes over the supplies that Cyno brought, dipping a clean cloth in the bowl to start cleaning the wound.
"I'm sorry..."
Her voice was strained, and it snapped Tighnari out of his motions. The hands treating Collei with the gentle yet firm mannerism built into his muscle memory now carried the weight of hesitation.
It wasn't his intention to make Collei feel guilty about anything—Let alone about her being hurt.
A familiar sense of isolation creeps under Tighnari’s skin. He holds back a sigh— he knew that Collei would take it the wrong way. In reality, he wasn't sighing for her actions, but for his own. His position as her mentor and caretaker made it hard for him to show genuine care. After all, He is—as his best friend Kaveh would call him—a strict parent; and he was admitting this while still being adamant that he isn’t her parent at all.
Hence, saying something that would be comforting for Collei right now proves to be harder than he'd like. Not because he doesn't want to say them, but he feels the explicit dread that words would fail him. Or perhaps that he would fail to say anything that would close the distance he was trying to reach.
So as he lets the wiping cloth sink into the bowl, he instead looks over to Cyno, who has been watching the two with quiet worry the whole time. He had a sympathetic expression, one that was maybe only micrometers different from his neutral one—but Tighnari could tell, anyway.
He ushers Cyno to step closer with a bend of his ear, gesturing for him to take over. Avoiding Collei's gaze, he stands up to take her damp coat from where it had been sitting on the sofa.
"I'll hang this up to dry for you,"
He says, and practically flees. And if Collei wasn’t also hurt, she would clearly see how dejected he looked, ears and tail somehow drooping lower and lower with each of his steps.
🌱
Cyno’s movements were awkward, at best. Up until a few months ago, Collei would get phantom pains just looking at him—and as much as that saddens him, he understands with utmost sincerity that what she is experiencing was a byproduct of trauma, and didn’t stem from any fear she had towards him, as a person (In fact, she is not at all scared of him as a person. Her determined rouge-colored eyes really do remind him too much of Tighnari, sometimes).
Because of that, he always prioritized her comfort first and foremost, and kept his distance, even as his little heart dared to dance when she started lowering her guard, joining him in dinners with Tighnari every so often.
Nevertheless, old habits die hard, and so at present he is drying Collei’s wound at a snail’s pace, with a delicateness that even Tighnari’s worst pupils would reprimand. He presses the damp towel like Collei’s skin is made of paper-thin sugar glass—which is to say he does not press it, really, at all.
"General... Do you think Master is upset?"
Collei hasn’t sounded this meek and unsure for months now, Cyno recalls. He makes a conscious effort to soften his tone.
"...What makes you say that?"
(It doesn’t go all that well.)
“Well, he said he’d always know about me… sneaking out to Mondstadt every once in a while. But he never said anything about it. Before this, he would forbid me from going even outside of Avidya Forest.
“Do you think he just… got too frustrated?”
Cyno lifts his head to observe the young girl, but she only cowered even deeper into herself. He focuses back his attention to finally finish drying Collei’s leg, putting down the cloth as he contemplated his answer.
“Hmm. I do not think it is anger, necessarily.”
“B- But he must be upset, right?! That's why he acts so distant every time I come back!”
He noticed that was one of Tighnari’s newer habits, as well. He gets quiet when Collei comes back from her trip. He’d asked about it a number of times, and Tighnari seemed to vehemently deny it, at first. Eventually, under the covers of one quiet night, Tighnari explained his reasoning— afterwards, Tighnari only managed to justify it by saying, ‘Collei doesn’t realize it, so it doesn’t matter.’
Clearly he was wrong. Collei didn’t realize why he did it, but she observes Tighnari extremely closely—A privilege she has by being his pupil—So closely, in fact, that Cyno trusts Collei could shoot down her own worries in the matter; She just needs a little nudge in the right direction.
“...Suppose that he is upset, why do you think that is?” He approaches.
“Because I didn't listen to him…?”
Cyno shakes his head, expression stern. His eyes convey with clarity, I know you don’t truly believe that—And it was true. Collei has always been a smart, reasonable child. She knows more than anyone why her Master had been so strict with her. Why he needed to be so restrictive in her activities.
Collei sighs and tries again, with more honesty.
“Because he is worried about me…”
A beat of silence, and then,
"...Surprisingly enough, no." Cyno says, and while he didn’t notice it himself, Collei could've sworn she saw him smile for a split second.
"He is worried, yes, but he knows you can handle yourself well enough. He trusts you.”
“Then why… “ Why act like that, if he did trust her?
Why must he be so protective, even months after her Eleazar had healed completely?
Cyno looks over to the kitchen, where they could both see Tighnari’s shadow reflected from the light. Collei follows his gaze and does the same. He was taking a long while, Collei notes, to put away a singular coat. She knows it was an excuse, and she thought she also knew why he needed to leave. But…
“...He is simply lonely."
She looks over to Cyno in disbelief. His expression is exceptionally kind as he said so—full of affection and just a little bit somber. Collei only then notices that he had finished applying salve on her wound, but it wasn’t Tighnari’s batch. The fragrance is masked by the Aloe Vera gel, but the blue-violet coloring indicated that it was Collei’s original variation, one mixed with Rukkhashava Mushrooms.
“He fears that you do not trust him enough to tell him the purpose of your trips. And today, he felt even lonelier, because you did not tell him of your injuries right away."
She remembers her master rejecting so many different iterations of the salve. It was too watery, and then too concentrated, and then too acidic… And then one day after countless trials, she had finally succeeded—She wonders why the failed iterations and rejections had been so easy to recall, but not the wonderful dinner she had to celebrate its completion, nor the pride she could see in her master’s eyes as he told the story for the 14th time, and retells it again to anyone willing to listen.
Inwardly she wonders, why is it that she had doubted her master’s trust in her, while assuming that he didn’t have those same doubts himself?
“...”
“I... just didn't want to burden him. I feel like Master is always taking care of me."
She knew it was a silly worry, and now after all of this, she knew that she probably shouldn’t let that get to her. But nevertheless, it was embarrassing to have her master taking care of her again, after so long. She thought she was better than this. She thought she couldn’t rely on him anymore.
Now, however… She wants nothing more than to be proven wrong.
Cyno doesn’t give her a reply, instead knitting his brows so tightly it almost seems like a display of anger at the bandages he was trying to wrap. Cyno wasn’t bad at tending to wounds, of course. Both spending time with Tighnari and the nature of his job meant that he needed to be skilled at first aid. And yet Collei could see telltale signs of fear and hesitation in the way he worked the bandages up her leg. The forth wrap barely pulled taut, and the previous three already slackened and threatened to slide down at any moment.
She chuckles a little, at that. Cyno was feared by most to be ruthless and cruel— but right now it seems like he was the one who was terrified of even the smallest of nicks on her skin. She bends down to fix the loosening wraps, expression fond.
Cyno makes some space to let her hold on to the slackened fabric, but he doesn’t let go of the remaining roll. Instead he says,
“How about this, then. Try asking him to fix this up for you.”
Collei glances at Cyno, startled—then she quickly looks away again.
“But I…”
She can feel Cyno’s sharp crimson gaze on her skin, it reaches her very soul. And yet instead of prying open all of her secrets, it merely pushes her forward:
“Just trust me.”
And so she does.
She never truly feared Cyno the way other people seem to be. She hasn’t thought of him as anything close to intimidating for years, now— But still, she had understood why people would conclude as such. He’s always been a little weird (still is), and Collei certainly used to think his crimson eyes could be unnerving at times.
Now though, Collei doesn’t think she has ever been given as much courage as Cyno is giving her.
She nods, and Cyno finally hands her the roll of bandages, stepping away to let her speak to Tighnari.
Tighnari, who has been pretending to not hear their entire conversation.
(He really tried to not listen. He really, truly did. Sometimes he wishes he has the blessing of a normal hearing range, but alas, he does not.)
And Collei knows he’s only pretending not to hear it because, well, it’s Tighnari— But also because, when she casts her gaze to the kitchen, his treacherous tail was very tightly wound on his right thigh. This is something he does when he is actively trying to stop it from swishing.
She smiles a bit at that. In a sudden burst of shamelessness she can really only blame Cyno for, she calls out,
“Master?”
Tighnari’s ear twitches, and he very slowly turns his head to look at her, expression almost alarmingly even.
“Yes?” He asks, and Collei draws a breath and says,
"Um... Could you help me with this?"
Instantly, Collei could see Tighnari's face light up.
"Of course."
Collei is asking her master a favor—something she had spent most of her adolescence feeling guilty about—and her master looks at her as if she had just hung the very stars.
It is funny, Collei thinks back again. Since when was her master so excited about dressing wounds? His words certainly didn't show it; he rambled on his usual speech—one she had heard a thousand times, about applying enough pressure and keeping the salve spread evenly—but she didn't recall it ever being delivered with such a relieved tone, before now.
She could not see her master's expressions, but if the silent swishing of his tail is any indicator, she's pretty damn sure he is smiling.
Which is silly, considering she was also pretty damn sure he was angry at her just moments ago.
She looked up to see Cyno watching them from his seat. wordlessly, she mouthed a 'thank you' at him, who responded with a dutiful nod. This time, his soft expression does not slip Collei's notice, and she feels proud that she is able to read him just a little better these days.
“Please tell Tighnari where you’re going, next time.” Cyno comments from behind Tighnari.
“Okay.”
“And ask for help if you are injured.” he adds, and Collei could see the tip of Tighnari’s ears warming into a peach color.
“Okay.”
“And don’t stay away for—”
“That’s enough..!” Tighnari cuts him off, his ears bend down in annoyance with tail raised stiff. His entire face seemed tinted with pink, now.
Cyno doesn't say anything in response, his expression barely a smirk. Collei couldn’t help but let out a giggle as she heard her master sigh.
“...I— You don’t have to do any of that if you don’t want to, of course. It’s… I just…”
Collei chuckles, “Master, I know. It’s okay.”
“Yes, well. you know now, because Cyno’s a snitch, but I haven’t…”
“General Cyno only told me because you didn’t.” She dares herself to grin, and Tighnari looks positively aghast.
He shows an angry face– At least, Collei assumes it’s supposed to be, but his eyes were glassy with unspilled tears, and his tail was still swishing, so it isn’t really all that intimidating.
“I wanted to tell you myself, you know,” He starts, slowly turning his frown into a soft smile.
“I want to tell you I’m worried about you. And I want to tell you that I will keep worrying even if you become the toughest, best, most amazing Forest Ranger there is. Because I'm selfish like that.
“I wanted to ask you… to let me tend to all of your wounds, even if you become the best Amurta researcher or the best doctor in Birmastan— I wanted to ask you to trust me enough to do that. Because I care about you.”
Collei’s breath hitches.
“...I do trust you, though.”
Tighnari hums, positively beaming, now. “I know, Collei. I know you do.” He says, and adds,
“I should be saying sorry for not expressing myself clearly, before.”
Collei’s answer was almost instantaneous, “There is nothing to forgive!”
“...I'm also sorry for not telling you where I’ve been going. And about the injury.”
It’s Tighnari’s turn to chuckle this time, face impossibly kind as he says,
Had a brainrot about a scene in my post canon AU that probably won't make sense unless you read the fic.. and even then it's dubious at best
It's by no means good or even completed but I've got to sleep eventually, and I'm kind of starting to accept that I will never truly complete an art piece.
In any case, I think about these two and the AU way too much to not post something about it here, since I missed my chance to make a promo post or even an explanation about what it is....
Yeah... uh... Im sure I'll get to that eventually.
also, don't be fooled about how judgemental Lumine seems, I have 100% cried over the miracles of nature while holding up an earthworm before. + she's got the twin debuff so she is by law forbidden to respond to him sincerely.
This is a sample? I should say, of my cynonari, as well as my canonverse writing. I've been writing a lot of AUs lately but I don't know why cynonari strikes me as the most easy to write in canonverse. Maybe it's the lack of immortality and peril, maybe it's because Tighnari's character is very natural (and oddly similar to mine) and therefore easier to write. Maybe it's the way they love each other quietly, from the sidelines. Maybe it's all of the above.
In any case, they are very close to my heart, and I hope to be able to write more about them. If you have any ideas, maybe even about the continuation or reply to this letter, please drop me a line through Asks or send a quick DM.
I hope this letter finds you well. Collei and I are doing good in the Avidya forest, and we wait for your next visit in anticipation.
There has been an influx of people visiting the forest for my lectures, which I am immensely thrilled about. I write this letter a few days after finishing the last lecture that I had planned, sub-urban ecocystems near Sumeru City, which garnered a lot of responses and questions from everyone. I am very happy to see that the people from the city are willing to learn more about their surroundings so as to not harm the plants and fungi in their habitat.
A couple of scholars from Amurta and Spamtamad in particular stood out, Liliya and Afizh are their names, and they were doing joint research on how experiments conducted by the Akademiya near the sub-urban areas of Port Ormos could affect the wildlife and even crops of local citizens. They have shown clear results and was extremely excited to hear what I thought about their work. We discussed it in great detail, and in the end I had asked them if I could talk about their findings as a theme in another lecture, and Liliya in particular to be my assistant in gathering more sources. They both responded enthusiasticly and I feel as if I have gained an intern of sorts. Everyday is interesting, and watching them work together in their robes reminded me of our time at the Akademiya, as well...
Reminiscing old times aside, In the middle of our discussion we had considered cross-referencing these findings with rules established by the matra, to see if the problem of local contamination can be made of concern to the Akademia rulebook, so as to prevent it from happening again. I had the assumption that we could find what we needed in the matra's various publicly-available guidelines, but came up empty. As we concluded this, I had jokingly mentioned your name to Afizh, as he is in his last years of Spamtamad, he is sure to know that you were an alumnus. I said to him that he should ask you about the unclarity of these rulebooks. Now, Afizh is a bold man, sweet at he is, but he claimed that he would rather let his entire TCG collection be siezed by the matra than ask you a question...
I can only assume he does not know that your own TCG collection is five times his size. It's funny that he thinks bringing TCG cards to his office is an offence worthy of property confiscation, but I digress. I offhandedly mentioned that I'll be the one to ask you about it, and their reaction made me realize something that has me... A little unsure on how to feel.
They were shocked to hear that I am on good terms with you, and even more shocked to hear that we are close enough for me to call you my 'friend'. They proceeded to tell me how unexpected it was, that a forest ranger such as myself would have 'connections' with the high-ranking officials in the Akademiya matra...
I don't have connections to the matra, Cyno. All I am is your life partner. Yet I hesitate to say this to them, and I dismissed their reaction saying it isn't a big deal. After all, a man being in a relationship isn't a big deal. But somehow, I think, with you, it isn't that easy.
I know you tell people you're friends with me when asked. I do the same. Most of our mutual friends know that we are more than that, and we had agreed to tell other people of our relationship if it comes up. Wether we claim to be friends or more, the problem is that it rarely comes up in the first place. We have made our lives separate for the better part of this relationship, but I fear that it is too distanced that strangers cannot fathom it being so intertwined.
I am not one to be motivated by the opinion of strangers. It is not that those comments bother me. I know who I care about and who I love, and whether or not other people know it have little to do with me. But that night I had somehow lost my cool, I think. And I had told them that you and I were in a relationship.
I will not talk of their reaction afterwards. Suffice to say that my ears hurt from the volume they reached and it became a bit of a talk amongst the participants. I am sorry for this mishap, though I am sure you do not mind. Please do not take this as a sign that I am dissatisfied with our current setting, or unhappy with your position and reputation in the matra. I am neither of those things. I know that your life is inseparable with mine, Cyno. No amount or distance or difference in reputation can change that. I suppose I simply wanted to claim the General Mahamatra as mine, as well. At least at the time. I'm not sure it was an entirely good decision, but I don't think I will come to regret it just yet.
Oh, I had almost forgot. I've attached some of the lines of the matra guidebooks and rules that we needed clarification on. You will see our inquiry in detail for each page and topic. In general, we were wondering if we could access some of the matra's documents regarding this matter, especially the ones that are mentioned but not publicly available. That was the main point of this letter, which I had planned to write since we started discussing about the matra's rulings, but evidently got distracted from.
I hope the desert treats you well, and that you will find time to visit soon. As always, I miss you dearly.
ーYours always, Tighnari.
P.S. Collei is forcing me to mention that I had promised Afizh to show him a TCG match between you and I if you can manage to arrive before they leave for the city. and also that he is leaving in about two weeks.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
It all started with a single letter, and now Cyno has to plan for at least a week of paid leave, a visit to Tighnari's parents, and a joke-free proposal. not to mention the actual wedding, plus the honeymoon.
Two weeks ago, Tighnari gave Cyno the green light to finally propose to him. It goes a bit like this...
Inspiration: my post about Tighnari's letter (which is reworked to be the prologue chapter) and the lovely people who voted for CynoNari marriage proposals for my next work.
Setting: Canon-verse established relationship cynonari finally making their relationship public
Ballsy for me to post this *checks calendar* 4 days before I have to present my first paper at an international conference. But such is the way of fandom.
Huge thanks to @minhxiao for being my lovely beta. If there's anything good about this site, it's the fact that it has allowed me to be friends with you.
Cynonari, and Tighnari in particular, have a very special place in my heart, not least because he and I are very similar. Other than Minh, I showed this draft to one other person, a close friend, who promptly said to me that this fic is very me-core... Whatever that means. I agree that it's very self-indulgent and so I worry that y'all might find it ooc. Please let me know what you think in the comments or in my askbox, either way, I am very grateful.
If you'll excuse me then, I have a presentation I need to prepare for 😵💫
Not particularly inspired by anything, It's nice to just think about how they think about each other.
This is told from Kaveh's perspective, though the science-y vibes is 100% from my taste- in my defense, lingustics is even less of a STEM subject so Kaveh is the more fitting between the two.
Nothing has bewildered Xiao more than the sight he is seeing right now. Inside the window he sees someone who looks exactly like himself, along with someone who looks exactly like Aether, eating breakfast together. The room was sparsely decorated, with a few cardboard boxes lying about. they were smiling, laughing, which wasn't all that bizzare with Aether's face, but the other man... The one that eerily resembled himself. It must have been centuries since he's laughed like that.
"I'm really glad we were able to find a new place."
he could hear his own voice from inside the room. in all of his 2000 years of living, never has he encountered something like this. Then again, nothing has really been the same ever since his first meeting with Aether, so he supposes it's something he's going to have to get used to.
"I'm really happy with what we picked too! It's the best."
He turned his gaze to Aether-- the real one. The one he's familiar with. He just chuckled, with pink tinting his cheeks, and tilted his head.
"I told you. I knew you liked me since the first time we met."
"Because we were always lovers, in other worlds you've encountered...?" Xiao repeated the explanation he was given earlier. Trying to make sense of it all. He looked through the window again. Xiao --This world's Xiao, the one living a mortal life just beyond the window-- had his hand on (his, or rather, this world's) Aether, softly caressing him with an expression Xiao didn't know his muscles were capable of making.
"Yeah. Like I said. I can't interract with worlds which has a version of 'me' in it, so we can only observe, but my alternate selves always find their way to you, one way or another. Lumine and I call it 'true soulmates'"
"So it's inevitable that... You will meet your own..."
Xiao didn't know if he could finish that sentence. Obviously Aether knew so much about alternate worlds and other universes, especially since he got his powers and memories back. Obviously these concepts are going to be beyond comprehension for someone who only knew of Teyvat and Celestia. But 'soulmates'? Him and Aether? There'a so much to process that Xiao's brain is having a hard time keeping up.
"Nothing is inevitable-- There's always exceptions, and seeing as I traverse worlds and have lived for more than 50,000 years, I assumed that I was going to be one of those exceptions. All of my alternate selves have been mortal, after all. I certainly never thought that I'd get my chance at..."
Aether trailed off, his logical explanation getting muddled by his embarrassment.
"A- Anyway. all of this is irrelevant."
In one swift motion, Aether held Xiao's hand and in an instant, they're teleported back in Teyvat. on the Wangshuu Inn rooftop, moonlight shining over both of them, the world quiet.
"You asked me how I knew and I kind of went on a tangent, but basically, that was how. Now you can continue."
The faint glow of Aether's wings disappeared into tiny specks of dust as he lets go, hiding both his hand behind his back. Xiao took a solid 30 seconds to reorient himself before he snapped back to Aether's last words.
Inspiration: The poem "In memory of W.B. Yeats" by W. H. Auden, the vlog "Maybe Art Only Needs to Be" by John Green, and the broken vase I found in my aunt's house.
Setting: Modern AU Kaebedo. Romance-adjacent, homoerotic life advice cosplaying as a birthday ficlet. potter and artist Albedo x office worker Kaeya
There's a very distinct smell of Cecilia when he entered his office building that Friday. He'd arrived fashionably late, only wanting to finish up what little work he had left before he leaves town.
It was almost mid-day, and his office had a visitor that day. A scientist by the name of Albedo Kreideprinz, who he knows mostly casually, while conversing with others.
He wouldn't necessarily say that they're on bad terms, Albedo's sister Klee is a regular visitor of the office, and she has spent her time with Kaeya on many occasions. It wasn't that he isn't close to Albedo specifically, Kaeya is just bad at making close connections with anyone in his life.
So he greets Albedo, notices the vase in his hand that wasn't there before; pale white with gold accents holding a pair of Cecilia flowers, and asks him, "Is that for here?". Albedo answers, politely, "Ah, yes. Huffman had requested me to bring some after seeing them in the upper floor. The flowers are from my sister."
Kaeya wonders why Huffman would request the scientist for a piece of decoration that seemed so expensive, but he didn't want to pry and instead discussed about Klee's next visit. He left the office that day without the smell of Cecilia, but the sight of the added decoration is nice, he thinks in passing, and made a mental note to thank Albedo next time they see each other.
It's the first year he really celebrated his father's death anniversary; the first year he does after speaking to his brother again, at least, and Kaeya took the week off. Despite his reputation to slack off, he doesn't actually take that many leaves, and he had more than enough paid vacations to cover it. So, he took the week off, because he needed to, because he found that he needed a place to face himself without facing others.
He went to the mountains, as one casually does in the middle of September. He drove along the countryside, mind drifting somewhere between a bright summer day where he played hide and seek in the vineyards of his mansion and a gloomy winter rain where he finally left his home leaving his brother behind. As he drives to the outskirts of the forest, he comes across a path leading up to a cabin with a sign on it:
He ponders a little bit about what this means. Albedo, the chief scientist at a government office in the heart of a bustling metropolitan, shares the same common first name and, as far as Kaeya is concerned, utterly unique last name, as the apparent owner of a secluded pottery studio more than 2,000 meters above sea level.
Just as he was ready to drive away and move on, because well, he wasn't too keen on making conversation that day, he saw what seem to be Albedo himself, walking around the side of the studio carrying a box of supplies.
It was not the snowy backdrop coupled with pine forest that drew him in; it was not the fact that Albedo's hair and complexion looked as pale as death itself in a way that was mildly concerning; it was not the idea of how some people, like Albedo, can get away from the same mundane job that he has, to a place of serenity and an art form as sophisticated as pottery; it was not, really, any of those, but somehow all of them combined made him stop and gaze at the figure busying himself with cleaning tools.
He was preoccupied enough, Kaeya notes, that it took him cleaning half the contents of his box to notice the car sitting just by the road; Kaeya also notes that he himself hadn't really done anything but watch Albedo clean half the contents of his box. He briefly wonders if that was creepy. He briefly considers why he was so enraptured by the image that he didn't think about driving away.
"Hello... How can I help... Wait, Kaeya?" Albedo's voice, noticeably softer than usual, broke him from his trance.
"What are you... doing here?"
"Uh. Hey. I was just passing, entirely a coincidence. I promise I'm not a stalker."
"Hm. I see. You mentioned you were going out of town for your leave. I didn't realize you meant to visit Dragonspine."
"Ah, well..." Dragonspine, at least in the city, has an image of being a place to brood and be depressed in instead of a tourist destination-- Considering that Albedo owns property here, he does not point out this fact.
"Since you're here... would you like to come inside?"
So he follows Albedo inside. He talks a little bit about himself, he listens more to Albedo talk about pottery. About how he was born in the snowy peaks, about how his mother was a scientist and artist at the same time and how he secretly wants to be the same, about the vase of Cecilia flowers that he put in Kaeya's office at Huffman's request. Strangely, they never mention their work. They mention Albedo's sister, Klee, they talk about how Huffman found out about Albedo's side profession, they talk about their shared spaces and the vases that decorate Albedo's work floor, but it was like he was speaking to a different Albedo.
It reminded him that sometimes, he also wants to be a different Kaeya. Not Kaeya Alberich, who has never been and will never be Kaeya Ragnvindr. Not Kaeya Alberich, the government official who has connections all over the city and does his job when no one's looking and slacks off when paid attention to. No, he wants to be just Kaeya.
He thinks about this as they talk, and thinks about it some more over their shared lunch, Albedo insisting that he stays for a while if he has no other matters to attend to. He thinks about it even more when he asks Albedo if he could watch him "do some pottery", which he later learns, is not one singular activity.
As Albedo quietly works his way with the clay, somehow bringing life into what was previously a blob of pale dirt, Kaeya thinks about this enough to say it out loud,
"You're very different here from your... Usual self."
Albedo looks up a bit from his work, almost a glance and half of a smile, before focusing his gaze back down to the throwing wheel.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No." Kaeya says quickly, then after a pause he added, "You look beautiful."
And at the back of his mind he knew it sounded flirty and suggestive, but he didn't mean it that way in the least, and internally curses himself for being unable to escape from his habits, because what he wanted to say was, "I want to be like that too."
"Like what?" Albedo didn't look up this time, but his tone listened.
"Have a side that's different from my usual side. My day job, or whatever."
"Doesn't everyone have that? I'm sure you're not giving business smiles when in private?"
"Well, okay, yes. But my private life is... Kind of ugly."
As the silence is filled with the grind of Albedo's art coming into life, he realizes that he might be oversharing to a co-worker he barely knows. He remembers the reason why he's on leave in the first place.
Albedo gently lowers the speed of the wheel, and even more gently takes his hand off the bowl he's made. He looks up to Kaeya, seemingly deep in thought, and when he opens his mouth it's something wholly out of left field.
"Have you ever tried pottery before, Kaeya?"
"...I'm afraid not." He's not sure what Albedo expected from that question.
"Not many people have. When I started, I wanted to make something I can have for myself. That is to say... this is not something you would find in stores." Albedo cleans his hands in a bucket of water he puts by the sink and walks to the other end of the room, where a dizzying array of glazed and unglazed pottery is kept: vases, bowls, cups, mugs of different shapes and sizes. Yet what Albedo took and handed to Kaeya was a vaguely vertical blob of seemingly hollow clay.
It's shaped almost like a flat-bottomed egg, or if someone made a clay version of a roll-on deodorant. The glossy finish of the dark blue glaze is the only reason Kaeya isn't asking if this is an unfinished work, or a piece of a bigger shape, one that makes more sense. He spins it around on his hand, trying to make sense of it. On the bottom there is a hole, too small for even his pinky finger to go in. He was just about to ask what it was when Albedo explains to him,
"It's exactly what it looks like. A hollow piece of closed form pottery with a hole on the bottom. The shape is... not really critical to the art. My mother was more of a painter, but when I learned pottery with her, our instructor told us to make these things, he called them secret keepers. He told us that we can whisper into it our pain and difficulties, so that the body of the clay can carry it for us, and in exchange, we get our lives back."
Kaeya pondered for a bit the meaning of it. He feels the weight of the clay differently than before, but even as he rests this piece of beautifully glazed clay in his hands, he struggles to understand how such a blatantly white lie can ever help with the heartache that comes with adult life.
"My private life is ugly too." Albedo starts, and Kaeya feels like he fell from a dream, remembering that what prompted this was his accidental trauma dumping.
"I started to make pottery to distract myself from it." He sat down next to Kaeya, eyes looking distantly, as if to a dark place, pained.
"I didn't think that I would be able to escape that part of me."
And then he looks at Kaeya and gave him a bittersweet smile,
"You saw what I did with my pottery, what I put up in my mother's studio: a place both filled with fond memories and inexplicable trauma, and you told me that I looked beautiful in it."
"That's..." Because you are, he wants to say, because it is. But he knows it's different for Albedo.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they say. And so maybe you should share your private life for another human to see, Kaeya, before you can determine if it's ugly."
"I don't really... have anything to share." He says doubtfully, tentatively. Because he doesn't; he doesn't have a secret pottery studio in the middle of the woods filled with years of tireless work worthy of an art museum; he doesn't have a single hobby, let alone a praiseworthy side profession.
"You can start by sharing tomorrow with me." Albedo states, and offers his hand in a handshake, smile fully gentle and endearing. "It's my birthday tomorrow. Would you give me the gift of making a new friend?"
And as Kaeya shakes his hand, he notices the roughness of his palm, and appreciates Albedo's work just a little more.
"If you'll have me, then I'd be glad." He says, genuinely. And for the first time in years, he's able to imagine spending time with someone else for the sake of itself.
Albedo, he thinks, is an interesting man. Interesting enough to spend his week of paid leave with,
And as it turns out, entire life with, as well.
Though he doesn't find out about that one until later down the road.
