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Aether has always been in weird situations ever since he came to Teyvat. Whether that was having to fight four Ruin Guardians and a Ruin Hunter underground, stumbling onto a platform on the water and having to fight some Ocean creature, or fighting a hundred year old dragon controlled by the Abyss Order in order to stop the destruction of Mondstadt.
They couldn’t compare to the amount of times he was a third wheel.
Since Aether constantly travels between Mondstadt and Liyue, he ends up running out of mora to buy food. (Ignoring the fact that he has a literal black hole as a travel companion.) So, he isn’t one to pass up the offer for free food, especially if the person offering is a close friend.
The first time it happened, he didn’t realize it until after he had eaten. He and Paimon was helping Lisa clean out the library in the Knight of Favonius headquarters. It had been late afternoon and as he was shuffling books around, his stomach growled loudly. Aether flushed red, as Lisa looked over at him and chuckled.
She looked towards the window to see the sun high in the sky then back at the pair helping her. “Oh my, I never realized that you may have been hungry.” She purred. “How about we take a break, I’ll be happy to treat you two for lunch.”
Aether was about to declined, before Paimon decided to open her mouth “Yes please!” She yelled in excitement. “Paimon is really craving some sticky honey roast, or maybe we could get Sweet Madame instead!”
Over Paimon squealing about what to eat for lunch, Aether completely missed what Lisa had said. All he could gather is something about Jean.
Lisa chuckled to herself. “How about you two meet me at Good Hunter, I need to grab somethings.” Aether nodded as Paimon pulled him out the door.
It took ten minutes before Lisa came to sit at their table at Good Hunter, however she brought another person with her.
“Acting Grand Master Jean!” Paimon looked towards the other person in awe. “Paimon is really surprised to see you, Paimon would have thought that you would have a lot of work?"
As Jean was about to open her mouth, Lisa stepped in “She does, but she hasn’t eaten yet, so I had to pull her away to eat.” She chuckled to herself then looked towards Jean “Isn’t that right darling?”
Jean nodded and muttered a yes. Her face flushed and to Aether it looked like she was embarrassed.
But before he could say anything, the waitress came to take their orders. The entire lunch, Aether felt out of place, he doubts Paimon noticed because she was scarfing down each meal as if it were her last meal.
After lunch ended, Lisa paid for the meal and as Aether and Paimon were about to walk back to the library the two turned towards Lisa and Jean behind them.The two stopped in their tracks as they say Lisa pulled away from Jean, who covered her red face. Lisa giggled and waved to Jean before walking to where Aether and Paimon were.
As time passed as they were cleaning the library, Aether turned towards Lisa.“I didn’t know you and Acting Grand Master Jean were together.” Aether had said softly to Lisa.
She looked towards Aether and smiled. “Ah, yes.” She smiled. “Me and Jeanie had been together for a while, I believe it was right before you came to Mondstadt, why do you have a problem with it?
Aether held up his hands in defense. “No, of course not!” He said a bit to loudly as he winced at how loud his voice went. “I ju- I just didn’t know.” He looked embarrassed.
“Well now you know.” She smiled at him, before a loud clatter echoed through the library. They both jumped at the sound as they heard a familiar voice.
“Lisa! Paimon didn’t mean to knock over a bookshelf!” Paimon cried out in fear. “Please don’t hurt Paimon!”
Lisa sighed in frustration, then she looked towards Aether, “C’mon Darling, let’s go help Paimon.” As they walked down to help, Lisa turned towards the traveler, “Aether if you ever want to have lunch with us again, just come ask we’d be glad to treat you two.” She beamed at him.
Aether nodded and smiled back at her.
The second time it happened Aether felt stupid he didn’t realize it. He’d had been helping Albedo in Dragonspine and to say he was miserable was an understatement. He was cold and sore after clearing out multiple hilichurl camps. As he and Paimon warmed up by the fire Albedo worked at his table.
Surprisingly, it was Albedo’s stomach that growled. The two looked towards the alchemist in surprised.
“It’s nothing” He muttered “Don’t worry about it.” His stomach growled again.
“I don’t suppose you two have any ingredients to make food?” He’d asked. Aether slowly shook his head. Albedo sighed “Guess we’ll have to cut our experiments short. “He started to pack up his equipment in the chest nearby. “I think I should treat you two to a meal, it’s only fair for helping me with my work.”
“Ooh Yes!” Paimon had yelled with a big smile on her face. Aether glared at her. “What! It’s been awhile since we visited Mondstadt, and Paimon wants to eat a Good Hunter again.”
“Well Traveler?” Albedo looked at Aether. Aether sighed and nodded in agreement. Paimon cheered.
The trio descended the mountain and had an uneventful walk towards Mondstadt. It was near evening when they got to the gates, most adventurers were rushing back towards the Cat’s Tail or Angel’s Share as the three got a table at Good Hunter as Sara, the waitress came to take their order.
“It has been a while since I entered Mondstadt.” Albedo said, making conversation. “Guess it’s a good thing that we came to Mondstadt now rather than later.”
Aether looked confused at that. “What do you mean?” he asked, but before Albedo could answer, they heard a familiar voice behind them.
“Well if it isn’t the Honorary Knight.” Kaeya said as Aether turned to look at him. “Albedo too, I would have thought you stayed up in Dragonspine for a bit longer.”
“Well they were helping me with my work, and I decided to treat them to a meal.” Albedo said, “Surprised to see you here late at night Kaeya, I would have thought you would have been at a bar by now.”
Paimon leaned towards Aether. “Paimon feels like we’re interrupting something. “She tried to whisper, but it seems like Albedo heard it as well.
“No, you two are fine.” Albedo sighed out. Then he looked up towards Kaeya “Care to join us?” He asked hesitantly.
Kaeya seemed surprised for a second, then his mouth morphed into a smirk “Albedo, you’re so kind.” He said before sitting down next to Albedo.
As the four entered a quiet conversation, Aether turned towards Albedo. “So, are you going back up to Dragonspine when we’re done?” Aether asked as he ate his steak.
Albedo shook his head at that.“Unfortunately not, I have to do some work in the Knights of Favonius headquarters, so I’ll be staying in Mondstadt for a while.” He said. Aether nodded at that as he looked towards Kaeya who seems to be listening intently.
“How long is a while? “He asked.
Albedo thought about it for a while, “Maybe three weeks to a month,” He said. Kaeya seemed to choke on his chicken-mushroom skewers. Albedo continued “I have a lot of documents I haven’t completed yet, and Grand Master Jean wants me to work on them before going back to Dragonspine.”
Then Albedo turned towards Kaeya, “How do you feel about that?” Albedo asked as Kaeya looked at him.
Kaeya tsked at him “What? You have to do some documents and meetings with Jean?” He chuckled at that. “It’s something we all do.”
“I meant I get to spend more time with you” Albedo has said bluntly making everyone at the table go still. Albedo looked confused.
It was at that moment that Aether realized that he was third wheeling the two. He looked towards Paimon, who hasn’t noticed the now awkward atmosphere surrounding the table.
“I bet I could find a way to spend more time with you before I have to go up to Dragonspine again.” Albedo started to turn red at this, “You know we could do some couple things, and we could work together and – “Albedo started to ramble on, and Aether was practically begging for Albedo to stop. But it seemed that Kaeya had a different idea, cause he was just watching Albedo rambling on with a love-struck look on his face.
Kaeya finally stopped Albedo before he started talking about their sex life, but Aether felt like he heard way too much.
“Now, now Albedo, we wouldn’t want our dear Honorary Knight to hear about this would we?” He said flirtatiously. It seemed that Albedo has forgotten about this, he looks towards Aether and Paimon, then his face flushed red immediately and covered his face with his hands.
Kaeya chuckled at this as he set a bag of mora on the table, “Here, I’ll pay for the meal.” He smiled towards Aether. “I’ll be taking Albedo and leaving, seems we have a lot to catch up with.” Then he grabbed Albedo by the hand and led him away form the two still siting from the table.
Paimon looked towards the bag of mora set on the table, then she looked towards Aether. “Paimon thinks we could buy more food with this!” She grinned towards the traveler. Aether glared at her as Paimon then glared back at him. “What do you have a better idea?”She questioned him. He sighed as he let her order more food.
Before he left Mondstadt again, Barbara and Noelle invited Aether to brunch, which he found out that two were dating. (Noelle insisted on feeding Barbara her pancakes, as Aether sat across from them eating his hash browns.). Once he arrived in Liyue he was invited out to lunch with Xingqiu and Chongyun (He had actually known the two were dating.) The four had a quiet lunch and were probably the couple he was the least awkward with. Then he went to have dinner with Ningguang and Beidou. (They were the two people he didn’t expect to be together.) They four had a good dinner, but it was cut short due to Beidou getting extremely wasted. (He had no idea how that happened because Ningguang had a strict no alchohol rule when eating together.)
What had to be the most awkward experience however would have to be with Zhongli and Childe.
It had been two weeks since he had been in Liyue, and Zhongli had insisted that Aether and Paimon join him and Childe to their daily lunch. Aether had always declined them, however this particular day, he didn’t have any mora to spend on lunch, so he took Zhongli’s offer to eat with them that day.
Aether and Paimon had arrived at Wanmin Restaurant after Zhongli had, however Childe had yet to arrive yet. Zhongli beamed at the traveler and Paimon and Aether couldn’t help but beam back as he walked towards the table and sat right next to him.
“Hello Aether, it is so great to see you.” He had said in a content tone. “We’re just waiting on Childe; I’m assuming he got held back due to business at the bank.”
The moment he said this a loud voice screaming “Comrade!” rang through the restaurant as Aether winced in embarrassment. Childe ruffled Aether’s hair, “Well I haven’t seen you in a while.” He laughed. “It’s also good to see you Paimon.”
Paimon rolled her eyes at this but before she could say anything, Childe leaned down to peck Zhongli on the lips before going to sit across from him. Zhongli gave a small smile towards Childe before waving his hand to call a waiter.
Lunch had been awkward. Childe had a hard time eating his food due to his inability of using chopsticks (Aether didn’t get it, he thought it was extremely easy to eat with the utensils but to each their own.) So, while Zhongli was talking, he would occasionally pick up food with his chopsticks and feed it to Childe. Which would have been fine if they weren’t so adamant about how much they were a couple.
Aether wasn’t paying attention when Zhongli started to speak.
“Hu Tao has decided to give me tomorrow off.” Zhongli has spoke making conversation. Aether stopped to look up at Zhongli, however it seems that Zhongli was speaking to Childe.
“So, what are you going to do tomorrow?” Aether asked.
Zhongli looked at him “I honestly don’t know.” He sighed “Perhaps I could visit Xiao at Wangshu Inn, but it is quite far from Liyue.”
Childe then decided to speak up. “I know what we could do!” Childe yelled loudly, causing some of the other people to look at their table,” Let’s go on a date!”
Zhongli chuckled at that. “We already do that though.” He smiled. “And don’t you have work at the bank tomorrow?”
“I can get a day off.” He waved his hand at that. “Anything to spend time with you.” He said sly before kissing Zhongli on the cheek, then the neck. Zhongli gave a small whimper.
Aether looked down at his food. He knew that Zhongli and Childe were super affectionate in public and yet he still decided to go out with them. He then looked towards Paimon to see if she noticed it. He wasn’t surprised she didn’t realize it.
“Childe” Zhongli whispered.” We have company.” He gestured towards Aether and Paimon.
Childe gave Aether a look and rolled his eyes before moving off of Zhongli. “Sorry Comrade.” He said in a way that Aether doubted his apology. “It’s just that the way Zhongli is gets me so –“
“Okay! I get it!” Aether said quickly before he could finish his sentence. Childe laughed and Zhongli chuckled at Aether. Aether rolled his eyes at the pair before picking up another piece of food.
“Well I hope you’re having a wonderful time. “Zhongli said smiling. “Perhaps we could go shopping together as well, we are in need of a new bedsheet, right Childe?”
“Yes, I guess we are.“ Childe shrugged. "Comrade would you like to come with us?”
“I going to have to declined” Aether said quickly (He would rather not hear Zhongli explain why they need a new bedsheet). “I have a few commissions to do today from the Adventurers Guild.” Aether started to stand up as Paimon looked towards him with him.
“What! We’re leaving?!” Paimon yelled. “Paimon hasn’t had desert yet!?”
“We’re leaving.” Aether said firmly then he looked towards the pair “Thank you for the meal, it was very delicious.”
Zhongli smiled up at him “Anytime, we’d be happy to have you Aether.” Childe nodded at that as Aether turned and walked away.
Maybe he will take them up on the offer again.