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The scent of flowers was one of his most favorite things in the world.
That was why Aether always had a smile on his face as he entered his shop, breathing in the gentle mixture of sweet aromas the way he did every morning.
Although his store was rather small, it was filled to the brim with life. Stepping inside, he placed a small box down on the nearby counter before reaching for the apron hanging by the door. He pulled it over his head, offering a silent nod and a smile to the plant life around him as his hands worked on tying the straps securely around his waist.
It was time for his morning routine—the one his sister often made fun of him for. Every morning before opening the shop for the day, Aether would greet each and every one of his flowers. He knew how silly it seemed to others, but he didn’t care. The flowers in his shop were like members of his family, most of them he had cared for since they were just seedlings. And there was no way of knowing if they’d still be with him the next morning, so he always made sure to offer them love and warmth while they were under his protection.
The flowers were his family, the shop his home, and though it was small and quiet and didn’t seem exciting to others, Aether loved it there.
His sister Lumine was a different story. She was the type who never settled down due to her love for traveling. He much preferred to spread his roots and flourish in one place than constantly be on the move, and once he had opened his flower shop, it felt like everything had fallen into place.
Business was never out of hand in Springvale, due to it being a fairly small city, but it was close enough to the capital city of Mondstadt that there was always a good number of people passing through—many who were regulars, but there was a decent mix of new faces too.
And Aether loved meeting new people, helping them find the flowers that suited them most.
It was midday when a soft chime filled the shop, accompanied by light footsteps as a man walked inside. He stood quietly among the flowers, his gaze moving between the different arrangements before finally landing on the back of the young florist.
Aether hadn’t noticed his customer’s entrance, too focused on making the new flowers he’d brought with him that morning feel at home among the rest.
The man cleared his throat, just loud enough to draw Aether’s attention. And when the blond’s gaze drifted to the man, his face instantly lit up. With a bright smile, Aether turned to face him.
“Welcome! It’s nice to see you again, Xiao.”
This wasn’t the first time that Xiao had walked into Aether’s shop. For the past week, the man had shown up every day like clockwork. He never said much, but when he did speak, he always asked Aether about the flower he was pampering that day. Aether in turn would happily tell him about each one, from its origins to the day-to-day care it required. He rambled on, telling the man anything that came to mind, and though Aether wondered if he found it annoying, Xiao always listened.
The other day, Xiao had even mentioned to Aether why he had been showing up so frequently. There was a specific flower that he was searching for, but didn’t know the name of. Aether had proceeded to introduce him to every flower he had in the shop that day, but none had been the one that Xiao wanted.
“I’m glad you came in today!” Aether started, hands sliding into the pockets of his apron. “I’ve actually got some new flowers today, would you like to see them?”
Xiao simply nodded and stepped forward, which caused Aether to momentarily hold his breath. This was probably the closest they had been since the first day Xiao had stepped into the store, and even at a distance, Aether found the other to be good looking. Now that he was seeing him up close, Aether found Xiao to be incredibly handsome, almost breathtaking even.
Or… definitely breathtaking.
He almost chuckled as he let out the breath he had involuntarily held in.
“Um, yeah,” Aether quickly cleared his throat and turned back to the shelf he had previously been occupied with. “A few of them are right here—feel free to look while I grab the others!”
Aether was quick to escape the Xiao’s view before he noticed the way his cheeks were starting to flush ever so slightly. He let out a sigh as soon as he stepped into the back room and leaned against the door for a moment, a hand resting on his chest. It was awfully embarrassing to admit, even to himself, but for the last few days, his heart always seemed to skip a beat when the other was around. It made Aether feel like he was a child experiencing his first crush—he just didn’t know how to handle himself around Xiao lately.
“Lumine would be laughing so hard right now,” he mumbled to himself, finally pushing away from the door to collect the flowers. And as he reached for a certain one, Aether paused. There was something about the flower in front of him… He briefly recalled what Lumine had told him when she had given it to him. So many of his flowers were gifts from his sister, souvenirs from the places she traveled to. She always made sure to remember whatever she could about where she found them, knowing that Aether would want those details. And what she had said about the one he currently had in his hands…
Xiao’s gaze slowly moved from the flowers in front of him to the young florist as Aether approached him, a lone flower in his hands. He didn’t pay it any attention, not quite yet, as he couldn’t look away from Aether, who was staring at him with a complicated expression. He wondered what it could be that the blond was thinking about as he looked at him. His unwavering gaze made Xiao slightly uncomfortable—somehow not the way others’ gazes did though.
After a long moment of silence, Xiao finally cleared his throat and spoke.
“What is it?”
Aether immediately began to blink rapidly, only just then realizing that he had been staring at the other.
“Oh! Oh, um, I’m sorry! It’s just…” He paused, gazing at Xiao once more before averting his eyes and holding up the flower in his hands. “This one. It kinda reminds me of you, so I thought maybe…”
Xiao’s own gaze dropped, and as it fell upon the flower in Aether’s hands, a strange feeling of relaxation washed over him. He lifted a hand and ever so softly brushed the back of his finger over one of its petals.
They both knew at that moment that this was the flower Xiao had been searching for.
“It’s called a qingxin,” Aether spoke softly, not wanting to ruin the gentle atmosphere that had settled around them. “It’s native to Liyue—have you ever been there?”
The other was still for a moment before faintly shaking his head.
It made sense, Aether thought. He had never been there either, as Liyue was a country very far from Mondstadt. It was thanks to Lumine’s travels that he had this flower at all. But that did make him wonder why the qingxin was the flower Xiao had been searching for, if he had never visited Liyue before.
“You said it reminded you of me?”
Xiao’s voice was soft, and Aether took a moment to register that he had asked him a question. This was easily the most they had spoken, and it took all of him not to flush once again, this time from the sound of the other’s voice. Like a little kid.
“Yeah,” Aether nodded, glancing into Xiao’s eyes once more. “My sister told me that she only ever saw them growing high up, near the tops of mountains. There were never more than a couple growing in the same area though, as if they preferred the solitude of watching over other flowers from a distance…”
He trailed off, feeling lost in the other’s golden eyes before realizing what exactly he had just implied about Xiao.
“I-I’m not trying to say you’re like that!” Aether squeaked, his words coming out quickly before Xiao made any assumptions. “It’s just that when I looked at the flower, it instantly made me think of you and the way you sometimes look at me—er, not me, but around the shop! It just made me think of your gaze and—”
“Do you think it's lonely?”
Xiao’s words made Aether pause, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he considered the question.
“Mm, I’m not sure…” He took a moment to think it over, considering his words carefully. “I think that… it sounds like it could be a lonely flower, but being alone doesn’t necessarily mean you’re lonely, you know?” A soft smile bloomed on Aether’s lips as he spoke. “I think there’s a sort of peacefulness to simply watching over the lives of others. I can relate to that.”
“How so?”
“Well,” Aether tilted his head slightly, his gaze catching all the lives surrounding them. “I’m often told that it must get boring to simply watch over flowers all day. But I don’t think so. It makes me happy to watch over them as they grow.”
A comfortable silence settled between them as Aether smiled fondly at the family he chose to surround himself with. He was often alone—Lumine was always off traveling, and many of his friends were busy and didn’t often have time to stop by. But he never really felt lonely in those moments.
“I’ll take it, if you don’t mind.”
Aether’s gaze returned to Xiao as the other spoke, and his reply got caught in his throat.
Xiao’s golden eyes were fixated on him, not the flower, as a small smile formed across his lips.
After that day, Aether paid extra attention to the qingxin he had with him, giving them a little extra care and love. Because the man that they reminded him of continued to come into his shop every day, for the sole purpose of buying a single flower.
For a few days, Aether mulled over what the smile that Xiao had shown him could have meant. It could have simply been due to the fact that he had finally found the flower he’d been searching for, but a small part of Aether wanted to believe it was more. Xiao had smiled at him after all, not at the qingxin.
But that could’ve just been because he was thankful to me for helping…
The next day, Aether tried his best to not even think about Xiao—which ended up being impossible, since Xiao visited his shop every day. No matter how much Aether was able to distract himself during the day, once Xiao stepped through the door, he was the only thing occupying his mind.
At one point he had even told Lumine about the situation, hoping for some sort of advice, but all he got was her laughter spilling from his phone speaker and echoing around the room. Something he should have expected, yet he had still risked the embarrassment.
And the more days that passed, the more that Aether and Xiao spoke. Even when it wasn’t about flowers, a topic he could ramble on about for hours on end, Aether found he felt incredibly comfortable talking with Xiao. They talked about casual things at first, like the weather or local events happening (there was always something going on in Mondstadt, after all), and Aether even talked about his sister Lumine, and how she had been the real reason he had been able to open his shop.
Aether still did most of the talking, but he didn’t necessarily mind. Xiao shared his thoughts more now in response to what he said, and even talked a little about himself. And the whole time, his gaze would be fixed on Aether, even when there was a qingxin between them.
What Aether had once considered to be the sole reason Xiao came to his shop didn’t seem to be so anymore. Would it be too much for him to believe that the other continued to stop by to see him?
He almost asked Xiao one day, but managed to stop himself before the words came out. Even though he wanted to know, it didn’t feel right to suddenly ask out of the blue. But the question weighed on Aether’s mind, and he spent the rest of the day preoccupied with his thoughts. He rambled less, and in turn, Xiao also spoke less. The atmosphere between them grew awkward, almost like they had never come to understand each other better.
When Xiao finally left the shop that day, Aether closed up early and simply sat down on the floor, knees pulled up to his chest. He knew he was the one who had made things strange between them, and he had an inkling that Xiao had picked up on it, even though he hardly showed it on his face. With a groan he pressed his face into his knees, resolving to apologize to the other the next time he saw him.
But Xiao didn’t show up at the flower shop the next day.
It was odd, especially considering the fact that Aether had seen Xiao every single day for the past few weeks. He always walked through the door a little after noon, but no matter how much time passed, no matter how long Aether watched the clock, he never showed.
Of course, Aether could only assume that it was because of the way he had acted the previous day. He hadn’t been himself at all, and it had clearly been because of Xiao somehow.
But could that really be it?
A frown crept up onto Aether’s face as he leaned against the counter, his gaze fixed on the door.
Truthfully, Xiao hardly seemed like the type to simply vanish from his life after one awkward encounter. Aether might have seen him that way when they first met, but they had truly started to get to know each other. He had opened up his heart to Xiao, and the other had done the same, even if he had been a bit more reserved about it.
Maybe something happened then…?
It wasn’t unreasonable. Aether had never bothered to wonder how Xiao even had time to come in every single day before, so maybe he had just gotten busier. It was the answer that made the most sense to both his brain and his heart, and with a sigh, he hoped that Xiao would be back tomorrow.
But Xiao didn’t show up the next day, or the day after that. And after a full week had passed since he’d last seen the other man, Aether felt like he was practically withering away. He didn’t mean to, but it was like he spent every moment thinking about Xiao. Any time that the door to his shop opened, his head shot up and he expected to see the other walk through the door. Before this, Aether rarely even noticed people walk in, too absorbed in taking care of his flowers. Now it was like he was hypersensitive to the presence of others. Xiao had been a quiet person after all, so he needed to pay extra attention.
Whenever a customer walked in that wasn’t Xiao, Aether had to bite back a disappointed sigh. Lumine had come back from her recent travels (more qingxin in hand, which only made Aether’s heart hurt more) and had almost banished Aether from the shop due to his negative reactions toward any customer who wasn’t the one he wanted to see. And though she had only planned to stop by for a day, she rearranged her schedule so that she could stay longer, knowing her brother needed someone by his side, even if it wasn’t her that he was hoping for.
“You like him, don’t you?”
When she had asked him that one night as he was closing up the shop, the flush that instantly spread across his cheeks was the only answer she needed.
He had suspected that he felt that way, but had tried to avoid thinking about it. Even though they had opened up to each other, Aether still felt that there was so much he didn’t know about Xiao. Heck, he didn’t even know how to contact him now that he wasn’t showing up anymore. Was there a point to having feelings for someone who had practically disappeared from his life?
But he couldn’t just deny it. The moment that Xiao had smiled at him, he knew that he felt something special for the man.
Lumine left a few days later, but not before giving her brother some much needed words of encouragement. Aether knew that she was right—he needed to be proactive, in any way that he could think of. But it was difficult when Xiao was the one that always came to him.
“If he’s not going to come to you anymore, then you need to go to him!”
It was great advice, but more fitting for a different situation.
Aether let out a sigh as he unlocked the door to his shop, not even bothering to turn the lights on as he walked inside. He felt silly for feeling so miserable when he hardly knew Xiao, but he couldn’t help it. Somehow, he had just felt so drawn to the man. But he knew he shouldn’t let himself be dragged down by these emotions.
Standing in the middle of his shop, surrounded by the flowers he loved and looked after, he felt sorry for letting himself get to this point. And sitting on the counter, waiting for him to notice them, was a bouquet of qingxin flowers, surely left there by Lumine.
“Okay Aether, don’t let this get you down.”
With a nod, he finally turned on the lights and dove into his morning routine, taking extra time to check on each flower to make up for how he’d been acting recently. And when he reached the bundle of flowers that had become special to him, he made up his mind to find Xiao, somehow.
With the flowers in hand, he stepped outside the shop, hoping that today would be the day that he’d see Xiao again.
His plan… wasn’t the best, but since Aether had no leads on where Xiao could be, the only thing he could think to do was stand outside the shop all day, hoping that the man would pass by. He always visited at the same time, so it was safe to assume that some sort of routine brought Xiao by the shop every day. Aether wished that he wasn’t still waiting, that he had somewhere to go look, but part of him felt like since the flowers at his shop had brought them together in the first place, it was possible they would do so for him again.
So Aether simply waited.
A few customers passed by, offering greetings and asking what he was up to, or wondering if they could go in and place an order, but Aether was adamant that he was currently busy and he’d make it up to them the next day. He felt fortunate that his customers were kind, understanding people.
Noon eventually came and went, and he did his best to remain steadfast, not letting himself give up.
Even as a sudden sunshower grew over the tiny city of Springvale, Aether didn’t budge. He didn’t want to risk stepping inside even for a moment, in case that just happened to be when Xiao passed by. He definitely wished he had brought a jacket or an umbrella though. The rain wasn’t too heavy, but watching it weigh down the petals of the qingxin made his own heart feel heavy, so Aether did his best to shield them, preferring getting wet himself.
It made him feel a bit ridiculous, standing out in the rain like that with an armful of flowers for a man who might never show up again. But even though he felt bad for the flowers, he wasn’t going to take them inside. He couldn’t bear the thought of anyone but Xiao being the one to take the qingxin.
But Xiao could just be gone—he could simply continue living his own life and never show up at Aether’s shop again, and there was nothing he could do about it. Maybe Xiao was like the qingxin, and preferred to grow in solitude, simply watching over others without interacting with them. Would he continue to move forward on his own, the memories of the time he spent with Aether eventually fading away?
The blond quickly shook his head, trying to banish such thoughts. But it was tough, especially when he didn’t know what else to think. So he simply stared down at the qingxin in his arms, for now at least preserving his own memories with Xiao. Because there was no way that Aether would ever let himself forget someone like him.
“You’re gonna catch a cold.”
He hadn’t noticed that the rain had stopped falling down on him until a voice pulled him away from his thoughts. Quickly lifting his head, Aether’s eyes widened slightly as the man he had so desperately wanted to see again stood before him, holding an umbrella up over his head.
The warm smile on the man’s lips made Aether question whether he was dreaming or not.
If so, please don’t let me wake up.
But no matter how long Aether stared into Xiao’s eyes, he remained there, holding his gaze evenly.
“You’re really—” Aether started, only to suddenly turn his head away so as to not sneeze on either Xiao or the flowers. A low chuckle pulled his gaze back in front of him, and before Aether could react, Xiao had lifted his free hand and was wiping away the raindrops that clung to his face. He could feel the blood rush to his cheeks, but was suddenly too mesmerized by how close Xiao was to him that his embarrassment was forgotten.
“I told you.”
“Wha—huh?” Aether simply blinked, not being able to focus on anything except for how gently Xiao’s fingertips were tracking his cheeks.
“You,” Xiao started, letting his hand fall from Aether’s face to trace the petals of the flowers in the blond’s hands, “are gonna catch a cold if you stand out in the rain like this.”
“Oh, um, yeah, you’re right…”
A short silence grew between them as Xiao’s hand fell further down, practically resting over Aether’s own hand. Aether’s gaze followed his hand, and all he could do in that moment was hold his breath as Xiao slowly took the flowers from him.
“I always thought it was lonely.” Xiao paused, his own gaze also on the flowers now. “The qingxin, I mean. It stays high above the other flowers, watching from afar. Sure, it was probably content with that, like you said before. Watching over something precious is… a nice feeling, after all.”
He lifted his head slightly as he spoke and met Aether’s gaze once more.
“But now it’s experienced the warmth of another. I doubt it would be able to bear its solitude anymore.”
And Xiao offered him that same breathtaking smile that had stolen Aether’s heart before.
“Um, could you maybe… tell me your number? I couldn’t contact you for so long.” Aether started, not even considering his words but just rambling because he knew if he didn’t, he’d never find the right words. “What I’m trying to say is… could I get to know you better?” Aether’s entire face had flushed red by this point, all the way to the tips of his ears. But this is what he had wanted so badly for so long—to create a connection with Xiao that couldn’t be broken.
Xiao simply chuckled in response and nodded his head. He lowered his umbrella, revealing a clear blue sky above them, the soft rays of sunlight catching Aether’s golden locks. He was radiant.
“From now on, I’d like to grow by your side.”