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Aether was having a shit day.
He was exhausted, he was upset, he was still sore from yesterday’s commissions- which is why, surprisingly, he’s being smart today and going to the people he told he’d complete commissions for tomorrow that he would need to either do them later or not at all.
Aether actually looking after his own well-being for once was a rarity, but he felt like if he kept going without at least a day off he would either snap or pass out.
The blonde arrived at the last person, a man that wanted him to deliver a letter to someone in Inazuma. The man was in Liyue so it was.. A bit awkward. While Aether could teleport, and this commission was rather easy, the man was just… He was suspicious, Aether thinks. When the man gave Aether the letter, it was merely just thrown at him and he didn’t even say a thing to him. Katherine warned him about the attitude, but Aether didn’t think it’d be that bad.
And now he had to give the letter back to the man because he doesn’t have the energy to teleport right now.
The man is standing talking angrily to a guard who looks completely done with the conversation, and Aether feels a bit of dread- but he doesn’t back down. He still approaches despite the eyes around him looking at him as if he was insane for doing this. Aether clears his throat at the two, the guard raises an eyebrow at him first but seems to visibly relax now that the attention is no longer on him.
The man’s glare however, Aether thinks, really isn’t needed.
Stress just gets added to his shoulders and he can feel the grass in a lovely field somewhere calling to him to lay down in.
“Uh, sir- I’m sorry but I can’t deliver your letter today-” Aether starts with the letter in hand, but he’s quickly interrupted.
“Excuse me? Today is just one thing after another, isn’t it? I can’t have one fucking good thing.” The man hisses out, “You won’t deliver the letter? Fine. Go take it to Katherine and tell her to get someone else to do it.” He goes to turn back to the guard-
“I don’t think that’s a good idea-” Aether frowns deeply, it’d be far safer for him to teleport over someone to get on a boat that doesn’t know what they’re doing.. The adventurers guild traveled a lot, sure, but the letter would be better off with Beidou or someone else on a good ship that could survive the storms around Inazuma. “Maybe you could take the letter to a ship that’d get through to Inazuma better-”
“I didn’t open a commission to deliver the letter myself.” The man’s eye twitches, “Just go and do it your damn self-”
“Sir, just take the letter-” The guard instructs, but withers slightly when the man tenses further.
“You want me to take the letter? Fine.” The man snatches the letter from Aether, making the blonde feel a little relieved. That is until the man grabs him by the arm and starts dragging him towards the dock- “You can come with me and then you can deliver to the right boat yourself-”
Aether does not react great to being touched like this, he immediately panics and yanks his arm away. This only serves to make the man angrier-
SLAP.
“HEY-” The guard yells out,
Aether slowly brings up a shaky hand to his cheek where he’d just been hit, and he feels frozen in place.
He just.
The blonde feels like he’s about to crumble.
…
Childe was having an above average day when he spotted Aether walking through Liyue, looking quite tired as he approached an angry looking man with a letter in hand.
The ginger wasn’t going to do anything to interrupt, it seems like Aether was just delivering a simple letter- that is until the fucking man started to drag Aether then slap him in front of everyone.
He had a death wish. Childe thinks, his feet carrying him at a god’s speed over to the man and grabbing him by the neck of his shirt.
The way his face drains of color instantly makes Childe’s mouth twitch with the threat of an oncoming smile.
“I hope you liked having a job because you’ll never have one again after this.” Childe whispers harshly out, “Hitting someone in public… What kind of privilege do you think you have? Look at you, trembling under my hand. You’re nothing but scum.” He slams the man down to the ground, not even glancing towards the letter that falls from his hand and gets carried with the wind away. “Have fun even getting back in Liyue. You did this in front of a guard- no,” Childe gestures over towards more guards watching with rather serious expressions, “several guards. How stupid could you get?”
The ginger turns away from the man, no longer wanting to look at him and immediately directs his attention to Aether,
He instantly melts when the blonde’s misty eyes meet his own, a hand still covering the cheek where he had been hit.
Childe allows the guards to take over while he deals with Aether, the ginger placing his hand gently on the blonde’s back and guiding him away from the scene. “Let’s get you somewhere quiet, hm? You seem tired.” Childe speaks in a calm voice, drastically different from the one he used on the man. “You’ve been busy, yeah? I’m surprised you haven’t taken any time for yourself.”
Aether was still in shock at how things went, only being able to look up at Childe with glossy eyes and try not to let his emotions get the best of him. The man is rather patient, not coaxing him to reply at all as he’s taken up some stairs and to what he presumes to be Childe’s current resting quarters.
“Let’s sit you down here,” Childe hums as he enters his room, gesturing towards the bed and giving Aether an encouraging smile when the blonde hesitates. “I promise this isn’t… A trick or anything. I think we’re past that at this point.” Childe hums, eyes softening when Aether grabs his hand and looks down to the ground in shame he didn’t need to be feeling. “Keep your head up, I promise you have nothing to feel ashamed of.” He leads Aether over to the bed and sits him down, crouching in front of the traveler and looking over his face. “Let me see your cheek?” Childe very gently tugs at the hand covering Aether’s face, and almost instantly feels rage flare in his chest when the bruise is revealed.
It looked rather nasty, even spreading towards Aether’s eye and making it look painful. Childe restrains his anger and reaches under the bed, pulling out what seems to be a small bag of medical supplies and pulling out a tin of what looks to be gel. “This’ll help with the pain, and hopefully make the bruise go away quicker..” Childe murmurs, uncapping the tin and taking a bit into his fingers in order to smear onto the bruise. “...I don’t think you need a bandage..”
“Sorry.” Aether whispers, and Childe sighs out in response, running a hand through his blonde hair fondly.
“You’re too harsh on yourself, don’t apologize.” Childe scolds lightly, “Get some sleep, you need it.”
When Childe goes to leave, he feels the hand still holding his own tighten and he looks back with a worried look. “...Aether…” Childe looks over the blonde’s pleading expression, desperation written over his features.
What happened for you to look this way?
He was going to go back and strangle that man,
“I promise I’ll come back.” Childe says quietly, eyes flickering off to the side in thought- “Ah, I have an idea.” The taller man lifts his hand up and grabs the mask off his head, and brings it down in order to place onto Aether’s. “Keep this with you. I’ll need to come back for it so… You’ll know I’m not lying.”
Aether trembles when he releases Childe’s hand, slowly bringing it up to feel the mask and giving Childe a very grateful look.
He felt very childish for this, but he sincerely cannot help it. Receiving comfort like this…
Aether lets out a small yawn, and glances down to the bed in embarrassment. When Childe only gently pushes him down and covers him up with a blanket with a playful grin, he relaxes.
“Okay.” Aether whispers back, feeling like a kid that just got tucked in for bed. “Thank you.”
“Any time, comrade.” Childe winks once with a genuine smile, “Sleep well, I’ll return when you’re awake.”
When he leaves, Aether only brings his hand back up in order to bring the mask down towards his face to look at it with still misty eyes.
Childe was certainly scary when angered, but he had only felt safe when the ginger stepped in front of him. As if he was a strong shield that could not be pierced.
He puts the mask on over his eyes and lets out a watery snort, if he had known Childe could be so soft he would’ve simply sat down when Childe battled him for the gnosis he never even had. The ginger probably would’ve reacted quite silly, but he wouldn’t have killed Aether. The blonde was first under the impression that he would have, so of course he fought back but-
Aether lifts the mask up to the top of his head,
He always seems to underestimate just how many people he has wrapped around his finger.