Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aether woke up the same way he had for the past 5 months. The sound of soldiers starting their training on the grounds early and his boyfriend’s– no, his fiancé’s head draped over his chest. With a small groan, he pushed himself up, only to feel arms squeezing him. “No,” Kuni protested, snuggling so deep into Aether’s side that he briefly wondered if the prince was trying to break into his ribcage.

“Honey, we have to–”

“No, no we don’t.”

“We have–”

“No.”

“A meeting,” Aether said softly. Kuni whined in protest. “This morning.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“With Kamisato Ayaka.”

“Sleepy.”

“At Komore Tea House.”

Kuni groaned in protest. “Can we cancel?” he asked quietly, sleep dripping off of his voice as he looked up at Aether through his lashes. He looked and felt so cozy pressed up against his side with a sleepy pout on his lips that Aether was almost convinced to listen to him, send a letter to the Tea House apologizing for the last minute cancellation and sleep in for an easy morning.

But he shoved his desires down and shook his head. “If we cancel, we’re going to have to reschedule. We have to have the meeting eventually, and we should do it as soon as possible.”

Kuni groaned directly into Aether’s shoulder. Aether just pushed himself further off the bed. “Don’t leave me.”

“You can come with me. I’m going to run a bath.”

“It’ll be cold in there though.”

“Darling, your options are to wait alone until the bath warms up or come with me.”

Kuni pondered his options for a couple seconds before pulling on Aether’s sleeve. Aether sighed and gathered his fiancé into his arms before walking into the bathroom and beginning to fill the tub. It was a little awkward to do it with Kuni clinging to him, but he’d had plenty of practice doing just that since he’d moved into the palace.

Once the bathtub was filled with warm water, the two of them pulled off their sleeping clothes and slid into the tub. Aether sighed as the minty scent of their soap filled the room and Kuni rested his head on Aether’s shoulder again. “We’re not gonna be able to stay here very long, love. So if you fall asleep on me, I am going to have to wake you up and no amount of whining is going to get me to let you rest.”

“I’m going to whine anyway, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know.” Aether sighed and kissed his forehead.

After a bath that had them lazily pressing kisses to each other for probably a little too long, Kuni eventually pulled himself out and sat at the edge of the bathtub. Once he was situated properly, he pulled Aether’s hair out of the tub and began to brush it out. “It’s getting quite long, darling. I hope you aren’t just growing out because of that thing I said one time.”

“You’re not complaining because you’re tired of brushing it out with me, are you?”

“Never.” He kissed Aether’s forehead. “If your hair was as long as the path from the palace to the Grand Narukami Shrine I would happily help you brush it everyday.”

Aether snorted inelegantly. “Okay, now I know you’re joking.”

“Only because I know you would never dream to grow your hair that long. You’re too practical for that.”

“No. I have been thinking about floor length hair a little bit.”

“Floor length.” Kuni contemplated it silently. “I could imagine that. Though if your braid was that long, your hair would trail behind you a fair bit. I don’t know if I could sleep in the same bed with someone who has dirty or wet hair every night.”

“My loving husband wouldn’t help me wash and dry it?”

“Drop that pout from your lips,” Kuni scolded as Aether laughed. “After a week of having to help you with that, I think I would just cut it off myself. I love you, but not enough for that level of tedium.”

“I love you too much to put you through that anyway,” Aether said as a new idea popped into his head. “What if I cut it short? Like–”

“Absolutely not.”

He laughed loudly even as Kuni scowled. “Don’t think I could pull it off?”

“That’s far too drastic a change.”

“Even if it was still long enough to be in a ponytail, like Kazuha?”

Kuni was silent for a moment. “If that’s really what you want, love–”

Aether laughed and kissed his cheek. “Not at all darling. I was just curious to know what you thought.”

“Do you quite enjoy teasing me like this?”

“Immensely,” Aether replied, not minding the flick to his forehead he received.

“Brat.” Kuni laughed as he finished brushing Aether’s hair. “Come on, out. We’re meeting the Kamisato siblings and the fixer in town to discuss…”

“Floral arrangements and music.”

“Yes, sure.”

“Are you even excited for the wedding at all?”

Kuni held out a hand to Aether and helped him out. “I am excited to be married to you, to call you my husband. Everything else is a wash. If I could, I would have sealed the union at Tatarasuna when you proposed. Not to mention that we’re going to have to have the fox marry us.”

Aether laughed and kissed Kuni’s cheek. “Guuji Yae is the most highly respected shrine maiden in all of Inazuma. It’s the most official our marriage could possibly get, with no room to contest it. Besides, if she didn’t officiate, I’m sure the nobles would riot.”

“I don’t want to speak of them right now.” Kuni said with a sigh. “They already invade so much of my life when I so much as step out of my sleeping quarters. I don’t need to be thinking of them in my bathroom.”

“Sorry love.” Aether sighed and began to get dressed. He’d begun to wear a more Inazuman style since getting engaged, the typical shirt (cropped as per his fiancé’s request) and pants worn by those in town, and a tan haori with purple flowers embroidered on the sleeves, as well as his traveling boots, earring, scarf, and all of Kuni’s gifts. “I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

“It’s fine, you’re not the problem." Kuni had dressed himself in a light blue yukata covered in clouds. "I’m just… ready to be done with all this.”

“You’re excited to live in a house far away from people.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Come on, let’s go before we’re late.” Aether took his hand as they walked out.

Like clockwork, the second they stepped out of the door, a servant ran up to them, thick envelope with a fancy seal clutched in their hands carefully. “Your Highness, good morning. I have some mail for you.”

Aether rolled his shoulders back slightly. Kuni took it gingerly, cracked the seal, and opened it up. Barely a second later, he sighed and folded it up. “Please return this to its sender with my polite and firm refusal.”

“There was a request that you read the whole letter all the way through.”

“I’m a quick reader,” he said flatly, shoving the paper towards the servant. “I’m not interested in taking another spouse, nor discussing the merits that a marriage with Sanzen Fuyuki could bring to myself, my fiancé, or the royal family. Now return it to its sender with my polite and firm refusal and stop holding us up or before we are late to a meeting with the Shirasagi Himegimi.”

The servant bowed and ran off and Aether quickly pulled Kuni away. “Come on love, lighten up. They were just trying to do their job.”

“I’m not inclined to be very forgiving when their job is annoying me.”

Aether sighed. There was no way he was going to talk Kuni out of his annoyance, especially not so early in the morning if he’d already had a meeting. They just walked through the palace and town to Komore Tea House, politely and insistently brushing past anyone who wanted to stop them and chat.

When they arrived, Thoma immediately served them with some green tea and let them get settled. Kuni muttered something about wanting to get it done and over with, but Aether thanked Thoma loudly. “The tea is supposed to help you relax, love.”

“I don’t need to relax.”

“Darling, you’re high strung no matter where we go and have been for the past few months.” Aether rubbed his fiancé’s hand soothingly. “Which is understandable, planning hasn’t been fun, quick, or easy. But taking the opportunity to unwind will do you some good.”

Kuni glared at his cup even as he sipped and mumbled something.

“What was that, love?”

“You’re too good for me.”

“Nonsense.” He turned Kuni’s hand over and interlocked their fingers. “You’re plenty good enough for me darling. Now you’d better stop saying things like that or I’m going to have to smother you in kisses until you’re begging for mercy.” 

“Oh no, the horror.” Kuni smiled and Aether smiled back at him. “Smothered by kisses sounds like a good way to go.”

“Maybe, but you’re not going anywhere anytime soon if I have anything to say about it.”

“Good to know.” The door opened again and Kuni’s smile fell into a neutral expression. “Lady Ayaka, good morning.”

“Good morning to you, Your Highness. And to you as well, Aether.” She held the door open as some attendants pulled in some small bunches of flowers. “How are you finding the tea? Is there anything else we can get for you?”

“This is fine, thank you.” Kuni looked at all the vases around them. “You’ve prepared a lot of options for us.”

“We wanted to make sure you could have anything you could possibly want at your wedding.” Aether nodded with a smile, even though he was also starting to feel overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of flowers on the table. I know your color scheme is purple and gold, very fitting, but we’ve also provided some other options that still harmonize well in a color palette if you wanted.”

Aether looked at Kunikuzushi’s face, watching the way his expressions changed as his gaze flitted between everything on display. “I think we’re interested in considering the white flowers, but not the pink. What do you think of the blue, honey?”

“The light blue… no, just those dark blue flowers in the back.”

Ayaka gestured to one of the vases. “The orchids?”

“And the one next to it. The lilies.” Kuni’s eyes flicked to Aether’s face. “And go ahead and throw in the carnations too since his eyes won’t stop sparkling.”

“We don’t have to–”

“Just leave them in for now and we can decide later if we want to add them or not.”

Ayaka nodded and the attendants began to move the flowers out of the way. Aether looked at the other flowers on the table and nodded at the selection, happy with the way the colors played off of each other. “Want to kick out anything else, darling?”

“These are all good enough to consider, I think.” Kuni looked back and forth. “Let’s both choose a flower to represent us and then–”

The door to their room suddenly creaked open and everyone looked up. Aether immediately tensed up as a middle aged man with a dark grey kimono and checkered obi stepped into their room. He carried himself with a distinguished air, but simply lingered in the doorway. Kunikuzushi straightened up. “Lord Fujitsu, can we help you?”

“Ah, my apologies. I must have walked into the wrong room,” the man said even though he had been standing in the doorway. “I didn’t realize you two were choosing flowers for the wedding today.”

Aether knew better than to do anything but nod. Kunikuzushi sighed. “We are. And we will continue.”

“Well, Your Highness.” Aether felt Kuni’s hand clench in his own. “You know how many children I have and how many weddings I’ve helped plan. Perhaps I might be able to offer some valuable advice.”

Aether looked at Kuni. He was annoyed, but rested and restrained enough. Kuni glanced up and gave the slightest nod. Aether spoke as evenly as he could. “Then please, we’d be happy to hear your input, Lord Fujitsu.”

The man stepped into the room and an attendant rushed to get him a seat. Aether readjusted so he was sitting up just a bit straighter and cleared his throat as quietly as he could as he looked at the flowers again.

Ayaka looked at Kuni. “You were trying to say something, Your Highness?”

“I was suggesting we pick a flower from our representative colors and then try to figure out how they might go together.”

“Wonderful.”

The yellow and purple flowers were quickly rounded up and displayed together. Aether studied each of the options before him, but there was one that really stood out to him. A large beautiful yellow lily that reminded him of the sun. It made him smile.

He’d just barely touched the vase holding it when he heard a scoff and he jumped. The vase wobbled and Aether hurriedly caught it before it fell and spilled water all over the table before turning. Lord Fujitsu was looking at his choice with obvious disdain. “Forgive me, I didn’t intend to startle you. I just find it… understandable you would pick something like that. It quite matches the accessories you choose to adorn yourself in.”

Aether retracted his hands quickly. Kuni nodded. “I always strive my best to choose gifts that suit the recipient. I find that the brooch and the hairpins quite suit him. Don’t you think so, Lady Ayaka?”

“They compliment him well,” she said with a smile. “And if they’re reminiscent of Aether’s personal style, I think he’s made a great choice then.”

“For himself, perhaps.” He gestured to Kuni, who was holding a cluster of small purple flowers in an almost spherical bunch. “To pair with his fiance however? These two flowers don’t go together at all. Compared to the quiet elegance of the hydrangeas, the lily is quite garish.”

“Perhaps if you simply put them next to each other,” Ayaka said. “But with enough work and experimentation with number and placement and trimming, there could be hundreds of ways to make them look harmonious together.”

“And how much time and flowers would be wasted before we found a good solution?”

“Lord Fujitsu–”

“What about these instead?” Aether said quickly, reaching for a vase filled with small yellow flowers with five petals. He held them up to the bunch of flowers Kuni was holding and nodded. “These match a lot better,” he muttered, setting the vase down before his sweaty palms made him look even clumsier.

Kuni frowned. “But if you liked the lilies…”

“No, no, it’s okay,” He plucked a few of the flowers out of the vase and put them underneath the hydrangeas in a ring. “They would look nice like this. Oh, or maybe we could nestle some of these in between the hydrangea flowers. Then it would be like stars in the night sky.”

“That’s not–”

“That sounds lovely.” Kuni took the flowers and stuck them into the hydrangeas before showing them to Aether. Aether smiled at the sight and they both nodded. “Right then. We’ll be replicating this arrangement, Lady Ayaka. With more of these…”

“Wood sorrel,” she supplied. “Yes, it does look quite nice.”

“Should we have the ring at the bottom as well?” Aether asked.

“That might be a bit too much yellow,” Lord Fujitsu said.

“Even with the ring, it wouldn’t be more than half of the arrangement,” Kunikuzushi protested.

“But we could use those white ones instead,” Aether suggested quickly, pointing across the table to a different vase. “It’s not like stars form a straight unbroken line in the sky. That might be a little scary.”

Kuni chuckled. “Right, right. Then why don’t we put your blue carnation at the top of the arrangement?”

“The carnation?” Aether tried not to wilt. “That’s almost worse than the lily.”

“I like it,” Kuni said evenly. “And while we appreciate you sitting down to give your input, this is our wedding, not yours or your children’s. Lady Ayaka, would you pass the white wood sorrel and the blue carnations so we can put together a concept?”

“Certainly.” She stood up and passed them over and Aether quickly set to arranging the flowers in the test vase. They were a little clumsy with it, laughing and doing it a bit wrong, probably bruising the flowers. It took them an embarrassingly long time to think to ask for a pair of scissors. But they eventually had a fully constructed proof of concept that made Aether want to grin from ear to ear.

“We’ll go with this then,” he said. “Ah, but more professionally put together of course.”

Ayaka laughed. “Understood. If you’re pleased, why don’t we take a break? We’ll put together some proofs of large and smaller arrangements and have you come back in a couple days. Does that sound agreeable?”

“Yes, thank you Lady Ayaka,” Kuni said with a smile. “And thank you for giving you input, Lord Fujitsu. Now please, you should return to your own relaxation and not let us take up any more of your valuable time.”

He nodded. “I was happy to be of assistance to Your Highness. Good day.”

The vases were removed, the room emptied, and Kuni slumped over. “What a bitch.”

“Darling.”

“Nobody can hear me. He’s such a bitch.”

Aether sighed. “Drink your tea darling.”

“Can we leave yet?”

“We still have to pick music. And I think Thoma suggested reviewing favors for all the guests.”

“Can we just elope?”

“No darling.”

“Fuck.” Kuni leaned on Aether’s shoulder and groaned.

“We can ask Thoma to wait to help us decide favors at a later date.”

Kuni muttered into Aether’s shoulder before sighing. “No, let’s get it over with as soon as possible. But you owe me cuddles the second we get back to the palace.”

Aether chuckled and patted his head. “Yes darling.”

Chapter Text

Aether sighed as he shoved the last of Kuni’s pans into his bag. “You sure you’re going to survive eating the palace cooks’ food for a few days?”

“I’ll be fine.” Kuni stared at the bag slung over Aether’s shoulder. “I understand the food dishes and… well no, I barely understand how you can carry one bowl of soup unbothered in your bag, let alone the hundreds of plates of food you have in there courtesy of your hoarding tendencies. But like… the bowl fits in there. I can even kind of understand how my cutting boards managed to get in there. Please explain how you fit my dresser in that bag.”

“I didn’t make this thing, I just know how to use it.”

“Do you have to… You have to maintain it somehow.”

“As long as it has stuff inside it, it’ll sustain itself.”

Kuni stared at him, then at the bag again. “Whatever, let’s just get going. We don’t have a lot of time to set up the new house before the wedding.”

Aether sighed and nodded. The moving process had been nothing short of pure chaos. As they moved out, Kuni’s wing of the palace was simultaneously being converted into guests’ quarters. With the wedding coming up, servants and builders were working on setting the place up for people to sleep in all around the clock. Aether’s bag made things much easier, managing to hold all of the furniture Kuni needed to move.

“I’m just going to grab a couple more things from the bathroom,” Kuni said as he stood up. “Wait here for by the door, I’ll join you soon.”

Aether nodded and stepped out of the kitchen. Some servants waved at him, but most of them just sidestepped him to do their work. He almost offered to help them out, but the last time he did that, Kuni had pulled him away after he’d accidentally spent an hour helping out and ignoring his fiancé. So he did as he was told and waited by the entrance to the wing.

“Is that…” Aether glanced up briefly, then away just as quickly. Two noble ladies in their mid-twenties were also standing by the entrance to the wing. He recognized them, not by name, but by face. A lot of Inazuman nobles had come around to wish Kunikuzushi the best for his wedding, but more than a few had offered to be his second spouse. These two had been especially persistent and Aether was half convinced they would try again now that they were here. He just pretended not to notice them, busying himself with cloudwatching.

“Father said this whole thing isn’t temporary,” one of them said rather loudly. Aether was mostly sure her volume was intentional. “Apparently he built some sort of shack on Kannazuka and that’s where His Highness is going to be living after the wedding.”

“That horrid place? Why?”

“It was his fiancé’s idea. The prince is apparently just so in love with him that he moved his entire life for him.”

“Really?”

“Mother and Lady Hasegawa are half convinced he threatened him into it. Why else would the prince head over to that place?”

“Him? Threaten the prince?”

“His sister beat Raiden Ei. Who’s to say he wouldn’t level that kind of power against the entire nation if he didn’t get his way?”

“You two are pathetic.” Aether looked over at the door to the wing. Kunikuzushi had stepped out, gaze fixed on the two ladies. Aether could guess based on their terrified expressions what level of glare he was using on them. “Cease this slander of my fiancé right this moment.”

“Y-Your Highness!” They both scrambled to bow. “We were just–”

“Telling horrible lies about my fiancé so he could hear you. Yes, I’m aware.”

“We didn’t intend for him to hear, we just–”

“Really? Perhaps I should inform your parents you need more etiquette lessons so you figure out how to control your voices. I could hear you over the wall.” Kuni held the door open for a couple staff members who were desperate to escape their drama. “Let me set the record straight. We are moving to Kannazuka because of my desires, not the other way around. I have not been threatened into this marriage and would never fold to such a threat in the first place. Do not ever deign to say such horrible things ever again. Come on darling, let’s go.”

Aether took the items in his hand and packed them into his bag as they walked off together. “You really didn’t need to do all that for me.”

“Well, I wanted to. So tough.”

Aether sighed and kept walking, helping Kuni into the waverider once they arrived at the shore. Once they were both settled in, Aether reached for the wheel, only for Kuni to grab his hand. “Relax honey, I’ll drive.”

“But I–”

“Come on, take a break. You’re the one who’s going to have to place most of the furniture anyway.”

Aether sighed and stepped away to let Kuni drive the boat away. He closed his eyes as the waverider began to drive away and the sound of town faded far into the distance. He was finally alone with Kuni, and despite being grateful for the reprieve, Aether only felt tired. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

Kuni turned to look at him. “The hell are you talking about?”

“For making you get involved when I could’ve stood up for myself.”

“Come here.” Aether stumbled up to his feet and then walked over to Kuni where he was driving the boat. Kuni kept one hand on the wheel before putting another one on Aether’s shoulder. “You did not make me do anything.”

“But I could have–”

“Shush. I was not finished.” Kuni moved his hand to Aether’s cheek, rubbing it softly with his thumb. Aether leaned into the touch and sighed at the comforting feeling. “You will bend over backwards to make everyone comfortable. Even people who don’t like you, for some reason I cannot fathom. I know that you don’t think getting into trouble with the nobles is worth it, especially since they’re going to be at the wedding. But I am not going to stand aside while they mock and slander the love of my life. And I don’t care if they hate me by the end of it, because I’m going to live with you and that’s all I need. As long as you love me, I couldn’t want for anything else.”

“I love you more than anything,” Aether said softly.

“Then do me a favor, love. Get some rest. Take a nap and let me drive. Stop feeling bad about them. Put them out of your mind for a little bit and relax for me. I’ll help you unpack later, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good.” Kuni kissed his cheek and removed his hand. “Nap.”

He nodded and reluctantly pulled away. Aether found a comfortable enough spot on the boat to lie down and closed his eyes. He smiled to himself and let the gentle back and forth of the waves rock him to sleep.

When they finally arrived at Kannazuka, Aether and Kuni walked up the hill by themselves, hand in hand. “Darling, do you think we’ll have to pave a path up to our house?” Aether mused as they climbed.

“Why would we do that?”

“Well, I did posit this move as a way for us to respond to emergency situations more quickly. Surely making it so that reaching us is easy should be part of that plan?”

Kuni sighed. “After the wedding. A long time after the wedding.”

“Three months after the wedding?”

Kuni’s face twisted with such intense disgust that Aether couldn’t stop himself from barking out a laugh. “Aren’t you as old as me? In what part of your brain does three months count as a long time?”

“What, were you thinking of seven months?”

“Two years! At least! After the honeymoon, not just the wedding!”

“In the scale of two years, one week would be a wash.”

Kuni rolled his eyes. “One year after the honeymoon and not a day earlier.”

“What if someone needs us before then?”

“Then I guess they’re shit out of luck because I’m not going to worry about that.”

Aether shook his head. “What if I did all the work?”

“What if I don’t want to be away from you if I don’t have to be?”

“What if you watched me work?”

“Why would I watch you do physical labor for days on end?”

Aether shrugged. “Watch me flex my muscles while I’m shirtless?”

Kuni paused for a suspiciously long time. “No,” he said finally, but with less conviction than before.

With a laugh, Aether squeezed his hand. “I suppose we should look into the process of paving a path before we start living on our own.”

“Yes, yes. We will table that and deal with it later,” Kuni said insistently. “We’re going to focus on just moving into the house for now, yes?”

“Yes, my love. We’ll start with the top floor, so that’s the bathrooms, bedroom, and guest rooms. If by some miracle we get all of that done, we can probably call it for the day.”

“We’re supposed to start in the bedroom, right?”

“That would be if we had a bed to set up. There’s already a bed in the guest room for us to use. I’m sure you remember using it well the night we got engaged.”

“Umm… I don’t know.” Kuni tilted his head to the side and hummed loudly. “Perhaps you could refresh my memory.”

Aether shook his head and forced himself to focus. “As much as I would love to relive that night, we’re only here for a couple days before we have to go to Liyue and finalize the details of our stay at Wangshu Inn. So we can start with our bedroom if you want and finish off the rest of the top floor as much as we can for the day. But we can only recreate that night if we have enough time.”

“I hate you when you’re being responsible,” Kuni mumbled.

“You only hate me because you love me so much.”

“Yes and I want you to throw me into bed and–”

“Darling, focus please.”

“Focus on what?”

“Unpacking, love.”

“I can focus just fine while thinking about what I want to do with you. And to you.”

“Well then I need you to let me focus.”

“I’m distracting then?”

“Yes. Very much so. And I need you to let me do my work, please?”

Kuni laughed. “Fine. But I expect you to make it up to me eventually, you understand?”

“Of course, my love.”

They did not, by any miracle, manage to finish setting up the entire top floor in one day. It was already afternoon by the time they came upon their house, and after a late lunch shared on the floor of their kitchen, they didn’t have a ton of time to set up the furniture. Kuni did not actually hold to his promise, constantly kissing Aether’s hands and neck when he could get away with it, playing with his hair and even grabbing his waist. Aether had just swatted him away, even as he got more and more insistent.

When they finally collapsed into their bed, Kuni wasted no time divesting Aether of his clothes, pressing kisses to his jawline all the while. Aether just laid down and helped him get the clothes off, too tired to do anything. “Honey, you’d better let me concentrate tomorrow. I’m serious.”

“But I missed you,” Kuni mumbled into his neck before nipping at the space just under his ear.

“You know this is going to take longer if I have to swat you away like a fly every two minutes, right?”

“You think of me as a fly?” Aether was staring at the ceiling, but he knew Kuni was pouting.

“Mm, perhaps that’s inaccurate. You do seem to like biting, so maybe you’re more akin to a mosquito.”

“That’s not very nice.”

“Neither is stopping me from doing my work.”

“I was helping too.”

Aether pushed Kuni off of him and sat up a bit in bed. “Love. Darling. If you make it harder for me to set up our home while we’re working tomorrow, then I will not kiss you, hug you, or even hold your hand while we are in Liyue.”

Kuni’s face twisted with fear and disappointment. “You wouldn’t.”

Aether raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to test me?”

“That’s not fair!” Kuni pressed a kiss to Aether’s lips, groaning as they leaned together. Aether put his hand on Kuni’s back and rubbed it soothingly. “I only want to touch you because I love you!”

“And I love you too. Which is why I need you to calm down and let me do my job. Because if I get distracted and pin you against the wall like you keep whispering in my ear you want me to do, this house is not going to be properly set up when we get back from our honeymoon. And the last thing either of us will want is setting this place up after we get back from Liyue. So knock it off.”

Kuni pouted. “Just until we’re done?”

“Just until we’re done.”

“And I can touch you in bed?”

“Yes baby.”

And that was all it took to get Kuni’s hands on his shoulders and lips on his neck again. Aether smiled and leaned back, feeling bad that he was too tired to properly engage. At least Kuni is enjoying himself, he thought, teetering on the edge of consciousness as his neck began to be covered in likely very obvious marks.

The next day, unpacking went much faster. Aether was worried that Kuni would try calling his bluff, (if he did, Aether might have caved immediately) but he kept his hands to himself for the entirety of the process. Thanks to that and Aether’s bag, they managed to set up the rest of the house to their liking in one day. As the sun set on Inazuma, Aether stared around at the house with a sigh of relief. It was finally all coming together.

He reached into his bag to make sure there weren’t any more things they needed to unpack when his fingers found something smooth and metallic. Thinking it must have been a piece of decor he’d forgotten about, he pulled it out of his bag, then froze. Scaramouche’s core was resting in his hands. Aether hadn’t seen it in so long. Every time he so much as brushed his hand against it, he was wracked with terrible nightmares. Every time he woke up to Kuni shaking him awake and staring down at him, panic in his eyes.

“Honey, I’m–” He looked up at Kuni, who was standing in the doorway. He must have been making a horrible expression, because Kuni immediately furrowed his brows and stepped into the room. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just…” He looked back at the broken core in his hands. “I really should find a place to put this instead of just lugging it around.”

Kuni took the core from him. “I have an empty drawer in my dresser. We can keep it in there for a little bit and find a box to hold it. Okay?”

“Yeah, I…”

Kuni leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “I’ll go put this away. Why don’t you look for something for us to eat in that miracle bag of yours? I don’t think either of us is in the mood to cook tonight.”

“Okay,” Aether took his free hand and kissed it. “We can eat at a table this time.”

“Finally.” Kuni smiled as he walked away and Aether got up to his feet to head to their dining room. He sat down and sighed as he sorted through everything in his bag trying to find something that appealed to him. Something for Kuni was easy, he had plenty of sushi and a sashimi platter. But he couldn’t seem to pick a single dish. Everything looked, smelled, felt disgusting. It’s just dinner, why was picking one thing so hard?

Aether didn’t realize he’d started to cry until Kuni was leaning over him, hands on his shoulders, whispering soft words to him. Not that he could hear any of them, and he forced himself to breathe properly so that he could hear. “Sorry, I–”

“What is it with you and apologizing for just about everything?” Kuni asked, kissing his forehead. “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “I just couldn’t pick something to eat and I… I don’t know.”

Kuni sighed. “Shh, it’s okay. You don’t have to know what’s wrong. We’ve had a busy couple days, it’s probably just stress. You’re safe, darling. I’ve got you. Why don’t we just make you some tea? Get something in you to help you relax and once you unwind, you might figure out what you want. Okay?”

Aether nodded and Kuni stood up to get a tea kettle. He just leaned over the table and tried to calm down his racing heart and sort out his thoughts. Maybe he just wasn’t hungry. Why was he crying about it? He just wiped his eyes and looked over at Kuni making him a pot of tea and smiled. He had such a good fiancé. He was going to be okay.

He was still smiling when Kuni brought the teapot over to the table. “What’re you thinking about, dork?”

“How nice and pretty you are.”

Kuni smiled and poured him a cup of tea. “Is that so?”

“I’m so lucky to have you.”

“I feel the same. Drink your tea, okay baby?”

Aether nodded and nursed his tea while watching Kuni eat. Eventually, Kuni offered him some food. The sushi still wasn’t particularly appealing, but he did recognize it was good for him to eat something even though he wasn’t particularly hungry. Kuni feeding him by hand was also a good incentive.

That night, when they went to bed, Kuni just laid down next to Aether with his arms wrapped around Aether’s waist. No suggestive touches or insistent kisses. Aether didn’t know if it was because of how tired he was or if he was just considering Aether’s emotional state. But it made him feel good all the same and he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Chapter Text

“Oh look, there it is!” Paimon pointed up the hill. Lumine squinted a bit before the house came into view, highlighted by the sun in the east as it crested over the horizon. It was a white two story building with a chimney, brown roof, and waist high stone wall surrounding the property. Not humble by any means, but a lot more homely than what she might expect for a prince to live in. “So that’s where they’re staying, huh?”

Lumine smiled at the house as the two of them walked closer. “It looks cozy.”

“It’s kinda small, don’t you think? Even compared to the teapot.”

“Well, considering how Aether barely decorated his room in the house we made together, I think a small house will be good for him.” Lumine walked up to the door, surprised by the small flower garden in their front yard. Aether barely did any gardening in the Serenitea Pot. “Hopefully he can keep this one clean.”

“Are you sure we’re not going to be too early?” Paimon asked. “The sun did only just rise.”

Lumine shrugged. “Their house is in a pretty safe area, we could just hang around outside.”

“But Paimon doesn’t want to just hang around outside.”

Lumine was about to tell her off when the door to the house opened up. Prince Kunikuzushi was standing in the doorway to the house wearing only his sleeping clothes and looking vaguely annoyed. “Then come inside. Just keep your voice down. Aether is still asleep.”

Paimon crossed her arms. “You don’t have to say it all grumpy like that, Prince Meanie Pants.”

Kunikuzushi stared at her, unamused. “Well, I suppose it’s a good thing that you two are here early. I have a favor I need to ask of you.”

“A favor?” Lumine repeated.

“Why should we do you a favor?”

“Well, it’s more a favor for Aether than one for me,” he said with a scowl. “But if you must be bribed, I have some sweets stashed away.”

her eyes sparkled, but Paimon quickly composed herself. “Paimon will gladly take sweets as payment.”

“Then keep your voice down so Aether doesn’t wake up. And get in here already, it’s cold.”

Lumine sighed and walked into the house. Kunikuzushi brought them to the kitchen and Paimon happily opened a jar of sweets while Lumine took in the room around her. “It really is like your place in the palace, but a bit smaller.”

“That was the idea,” he said. Lumine looked over at him prepared to chew him out, but he just walked over to the sink to wash a couple dishes, presumably from the night before. “Would you like tea?”

“No thanks,” Lumine said. “What’s the favor you need from us? Something to do with the wedding?”

He nodded. “Unfortunately.”

“There hasn’t been a complication, has there?”

“Not quite. More like an oversight on my part.”

Lumine frowned. “And you need me to fix your problem for you?”

“Shush and let me explain, would you?” he snapped before taking a deep breath, wringing out his towel. “My apologies, I just… I’m sure you also want your brother to feel like he belongs and is appreciated on his wedding day.”

Lumine narrowed her eyes. “Has someone been making him feel like that’s not the case?”

“Many someones,” the prince confirmed sullenly. “Despite there never being a marriage in my family history as far as I’m aware, many nobles assumed that my sister or I would marry eventually. Everyone was certain that if we did marry, it would be to one of the noble families here in Inazuma. So when I announced my engagement to a strange outlander that is not viewed entirely favorably by the nobility, they got up in sorts.”

“Wait, why don’t the nobles like Aether?” Paimon asked.

“A lot of them can’t get over the fact that he has a criminal record. Some of them think his regular outfit is too indecent. Some of them think that he’s going to be a neglectful husband and go back to traveling once he gets bored of me or some nonsense. I’m certain most of them don’t care but want something to critique because they’re mad I’m marrying him and not them.” He huffed. “All I know is that once they realized they weren’t going to convince me or my family this pairing was destined for failure, they decided to turn their attention to him instead.”

“And you need me to kick their asses without technically getting the royal family involved or implicated?” Lumine asked, hopeful.

“No. Well, not right now, but we can table that as an option if it comes to that.” Kunikuzushi slid a crude drawing of a seating chart over the counter towards Lumine. “It’s tradition for seating to be split based on which of the two spouses the guest supports or knows more. It’s always a big show of who has whose support, a way for the nobles to show off their alliances or power.”

“But the nobles aren’t going to be clamoring for my brother.”

Kunikuzushi sighed. “No. As it stands, it’s going to be you two, the Kamisato siblings, their retainer, Sangonomiya Kokomi, and her general with the dog ears. And on my side, a sea of 60-75 nobles who don’t necessarily like me so much as they dislike Aether. ”

“Am I to… convince some of them to switch sides?”

The prince scoffed and Lumine felt relief wash over her. She was good at a lot of things, but diplomacy was admittedly where she stumbled a bit. “Archons no. That’s not going to happen in a million years, and I wouldn’t wish that kind of tedious monotony on anyone. No, I have a different idea.”

Lumine nodded and leaned forward. “Tell me.”

*

“The wedding’s not far off now, is it?”

Aether buried his hands in the sheets, balling them into fists. “What do you want?”

Scaramouche tilted his head to the side. He was sitting at the foot of Aether’s bed, torso hauntingly hollow. Aether kept looking at the sheets beneath him, expecting there to be blood underneath him. It was never there, but his eyes wouldn’t stop searching for it. “You put me in a drawer. No, you let your fiancé put me in a drawer.”

“We’re getting you a box.”

“Ah, much better. Like a coffin!” He clapped sarcastically. “Though it’s probably better than what Dottore did to me. I’ll bet he melted me down for scraps. Maybe he made another one of me. Has there been another calamity you’ve had to stop?”

“No.”

“Hmm, that’s a shame.” Scaramouche leaned forward. “Excited for the wedding?”

“Are you a ghost? Or something else?”

“Does that matter? You don’t seem to be waking up soon. Answer me.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Liar.” Scaramouche leaned forward. “You’re dreading it.”

“I’m not dreading it.”

He laughed while Aether tried to keep his shoulders up. “You’re such a bad liar.”

“Okay, maybe I’m dreading the ceremony, but the rest of the wedding is going to be fine.”

“You keep telling yourself that. You keep telling your fiancé that.” Scaramouche brushed a finger along Aether’s chin. “We both know that you’re sick to your stomach thinking about this damn thing.”

“And you want to taunt me? Is that it?”

“Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you married me instead?”

Aether scowled. “I would never marry you.”

“Maybe not willingly,” he said, leaning closer. His violet eyes burned with anger, possession, and frustration, even though his grin was maniacal. “Oh, but it would have been so much easier. You could’ve left all the wedding planning, the travel, dealing with those insolent fools who would see you put to death for the unforgivable sin of daring to look at their useless prince.”

“He’s not–”

Scaramouche grabbed his chin, jerking his head upwards and silencing him. “You could have left it all to me. I would have snapped the neck of anyone who so much as dared to think of you the way those others did. Not just give them a lecture and walk away with you as though it did anything. As if they wouldn’t go right back to their incessant nattering the second you were out of earshot.”

“Let go of me.”

“And you would like that, wouldn’t you?”

Aether shoved him backwards. “Shut up. No I wouldn’t.”

Scaramouche cackled, but his grin was gone. “You hate them! You want them out of your wedding! And if I was your husband, because we’d already be married by now, I would have the spine to kick them out, consequences be damned! Unlike that simpering, pathetic coward that has you wrapped around your finger like a dog.”

“Shut up! He is not pathetic or a coward!”

“You made a mistake, Aether.” Scaramouche grinned as he leaned forward. “You should have picked me.”

Aether swatted him away and blinked rapidly. He was staring at the ceiling in his house. He pushed himself up and looked at the empty bed. There was no Scaramouche in his bed, not even his core magically teleported out of the drawer to his relief. Unfortunately, there was also no Kuni in his bed or anywhere in the room, so he quickly did up his hair and got dressed before heading down the stairs.

Kuni was cooking downstairs when Aether stumbled down into the kitchen still half asleep. He looked up, then welcomed Aether into a hug as Aether breathed in the scent of a very specific tea blend. “Do you raid my stash of Chenyu Adeptea?”

“Am I not allowed to? Even if I made you a cup?”

“I didn’t know you knew how to brew it is all.” Aether kissed his forehead. “Thank you, darling.”

“Of course love. I’m making breakfast, so go sit down.”

“Okay. Thank you baby.”

At the sound of someone clearing their throat, Aether jumped and turned around. Paimon was watching them with disgust, even as she stuffed her face with a lavender melon flavored candy Kuni had gotten as an engagement gift. Lumine was looking at him with a similar disdain, but she was also grinning. “Good morning to you too, dork.”

“Ah, uh, good morning.” Aether stepped away. “I didn’t know you would be here so early.”

“If Paimon had known you two would be doing all that, Paimon would’ve come later!”

“We have to meet with Kazuha and Beidou at sunset, and considering how far away you live now, it seemed prudent to come early,” Lumine said simply. “How’s the new house treating you?”

“It’s nice.”

“It’s quiet.” Kuni said as he continued to cook.

Lumine nodded, then looked out the window. “You’re really gonna be okay living out here in the middle of nowhere with that one?”

“‘That one’ is making you breakfast,” Kuni snapped. “So watch it before I burn your food.”

“Your food probably isn’t that good anyway!” Paimon protested.

Aether shook his head. “Come on Paimon, can’t you smell what he’s cooking? He’s a great cook. Or are you too busy with your candy to appreciate the smell?”

“Paimon can smell just fine. She just doesn’t think it smells all that special.”

Kuni rolled his eyes and served Aether some hashbrowns and toast with sunsettia jam. “At least someone appreciates me. If you two don’t want breakfast, then I’m going to go get dressed so we can leave.”

“Paimon never said she didn’t want breakfast!”

After Kuni had properly dressed himself, he and Aether had grabbed their bags with civilians clothes for Kuni before they jumped on a waverider and drove over to the port in Ritou. As soon as they got on the Alcor, Lumine asked to speak with Beidou and Kazuha, so Kuni pulled Aether into their private room for most of the journey across the ocean.

When they arrived at Liyue Harbor, as Aether started to head north, Lumine and Paimon began heading west. “What, don’t tell me you have some other adventure to run off to without us?”

Lumine waved him off. “It’s nothing. We just have to go talk to Hu Tao.”

“Yeah, we have to ask-

“Paimon, we really shouldn’t keep Director Hu waiting,” Lumine interrupted. Paimon suddenly made a big facial expression “We’ll catch up with you guys later!”

Aether waved them off with a smile. The second he turned around, he grabbed Kuni’s hand and muttered, “I have no idea what they’re planning, but they’re plotting something.”

Kunikuzushi raised an eyebrow at him . “You don’t think there’s any other reason they’re going there? They could’ve just forgotten to mention they were visiting.”

“I’ve traveled with Paimon for three years and my sister for eons. I know when they’re hiding something from me.” Kuni looked worried all of a sudden and Aether squeezed his hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I trust them to not do anything to ruin the wedding. They’re probably just planning a big gift or something to surprise me with.”

“You’re not going to worry about it?”

He shrugged. “At worst, it’s going to be a prank in the middle of the reception at my expense. Nothing I need to worry about, and especially not you. Let’s just keep going. Verr Goldet is expecting us tonight and she doesn’t like staying up late for guests.”

“All right then.” Kuni smiled and let Aether lead the way. “I’m excited to see the view.”

“It’s seriously gorgeous. And if we move fast enough, we might be able to see it at sunset.”

“Well then, let’s get moving.”

Aether did his best to move quickly, and they arrived just as the sun was starting to make its descent in the sky. Which was good, because the elevator was broken, and Kuni was not willing to climb up the flights of stairs after all the walking, so Aether had to carry him up on his back. Verr Goldet looked only slightly amused when he came up the stairs, which meant she was probably laughing quite loudly in her head. “Traveler, welcome back to Wangshu Inn. This must be your fiancé, yes?”

“This is him.”

Kuni got down and extended his hand. “Good evening ma’am. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” She smiled and passed a form over to Aether. “I’m sure you two are tired from your journey, and I’m dealing with a shipment misplacement, so I think we’ll push our discussion to tomorrow. Sign here, and I’ll give you the keys for a room close to the top floor. You might be able to catch Smiley Yanxiao if you hurry, but I trust you in the kitchen if you miss him.”

Aether scribbled his signature quickly and smiled. “Thank you, Verr. Come on love, let’s get situated.”

Kuni followed Aether up the stairs and they dropped off their bags before sneaking into the kitchen. Smiley Yanxiao was indeed still in there, but he seemed a bit busy with other orders, so Aether resolved to let him do his thing. He just made a few dishes that he shared with Kuni before they escaped up to the room, food in hand.

“Wow.” Kuni stopped in place by the doorway before walking towards the railing. Aether took the plates from him and set them on a blanket on the balcony before joining him. Aether smiled as he took in the sight of Dihua Marsh set ablaze by the red light of the sunset. So high up, even with the light breeze, it was quiet and peaceful. “It’s incredible.”

Aether took Kuni’s hand gently, waiting until Kuni looked at him. He was momentarily caught off guard by how devastatingly gorgeous he looked, the warm gold of the sun’s light highlighting the edge of his lips and his hair. Aether stared before remembering himself and leaning forward to kiss his fingers one by one. After he was done, he interlocked their fingers and moved closer. “You’re incredible.”

Kuni coughed and looked away. “You big sap.”

“I mean it.”

“I know you mean it, love. You just… say it so easily.”

Aether brushed some of his hair back. “Ready to eat?”

“Yeah.”

They sat down on the blanket before Aether pulled one dish out of the pile. “Xiao.”

Kuni looked up in confusion before jumping when the adeptus appeared beside them, arms crossed. He seemed confused by the scene in front of him, but then noticed the plate of almond tofu being extended to him. “Thank you,” he said before promptly disappearing into a cloud of black and teal.

“Where…”

“Probably back to wherever he came from,” Aether said before picking up a different plate. “Potentially on top of the roof, but he’ll probably want to give us our privacy. More for himself than for our benefit. Come on, eat. We didn’t make all this food just for it to get cold.”

Kuni sighed and leaned against Aether’s shoulder as they ate together. They fed each other jade parcels and black perch stew as the sub finished its journey across the sky. Aether relished in the relative calm, the comfort of voices that were present yet far away, the warmth of his fiancé on his shoulder. It felt just close enough to perfect. He wanted to bottle the moment and keep it on a shelf.

“What if we eloped here?”

He sighed. “Love.”

“It’s quiet, no one knows who we are. The landscape is gorgeous.”

Aether ran his hands through Kunikuzushi’s hair. “We’d have to move again into a brand new house, we’d have to learn the arrangements for Liyuean marriage ceremonies, and we could very well cause an international crisis if we ran away to Liyue.”

“None of that is a hard no for me.”

Aether rolled his eyes. “We’d have to delay our marriage.”

“Oh.” Kuni was silent for a bit. “Fine.”

“It’s only a few more months, darling.”

“It’s a few months too many. I want you now.”

“You have me, babe.”

“You know what I mean.”

Aether laughed and kissed his temple. “I’m eagerly waiting for it too. I can’t wait to be your husband.”

“I’m more impatient to be yours.”

“This isn’t a competition.”

Kuni grabbed Aether’s hand and pulled it up to his lips to kiss. “I’m not being competitive. Just stating a fact.”

They stayed on the balcony as the red in the sky gave way to purple, black, and finally the little pinpricks of stars. By the time they came up, Aether’s legs had fallen asleep. Unfortunately, so had Kuni, dozing on his shoulder. When Aether caught sight of the moon, he reluctantly began to shift, moving as smoothly as possible to pick up his fiancé.

“He would happily get off if you just asked him to.” Xiao said, holding his empty plate.

“But then I would have to wake him up.” Aether hissed in surprise as one of the plates rolled off the shifting blanket and onto the wood. He looked down, but Kuni was still fast asleep and he sighed with relief. He gathered him up into his arms and stood up before smiling at Xiao. “What brings you back here?”

“I work less nowadays. Rex… Zhongli has encouraged me to rest more.”

Aether smiled. “You deserve to.”

“If everyone insists, then…” His expression changed and he glanced south. “Excuse me, your sister is calling.”

“All right. Good night Xiao.”

He nodded before disappearing and Aether sighed before carrying Kuni to their shared room. Once he was tucked into bed, Aether slipped away to clean up their little picnic. He washed and put away all their dishes before closing up the blanket and making a mental note to wash the blanket when he got a chance.

He eased the door open to the room as quietly as possible. Once it was shut, he got into bed. Kuni, even in his sleep, reached out for Aether and wrapped his arms around him. Aether felt his heart swell before kissing him on the forehead.

Chapter Text

The day of the rehearsal, Aether couldn’t deny that he was feeling sick to his stomach. He and Kuni had been staying in the guest wing since their return from Liyue, which would normally be fine. But some of the other nobles had also begun staying there despite the wedding being a month off. The wedding rehearsal certainly was important for him, but it’s not like it was early in the morning or even required attendance.

“Aether.”

“Yes love?”

“You’re going to be late to meet Chiori if you keep lazing about with me. As much as I love cuddling with you, I don’t think it’s a good idea to upset the woman who’s going to do your hair on wedding day. Get going.”

Aether groaned and sat up in bed, kissing Kuni on the cheek before forcing himself away. They’d both agreed they wanted each other’s wedding attire to be a surprise for each other, so they were meeting her separately. And the. Kuni had… some sort of process he had to discuss with his mother and Yae Miko. With all the other stuff going on in the palace, they probably weren’t going to see each other until the rehearsal. As much as he teased Kuni for it, being without his fiancé for most of the day seemed ridiculously daunting.

Once he was properly dressed, he gave Kuni one more kiss on the forehead before leaving their room. Some of the attending nobles caught glimpses of him and began whispering, but Aether squared his shoulders away and just ignored them all. A nasty voice whispered in his ear, but he shoved it down and just headed down the hall.

As soon as he found the room Chiori was waiting for him in, she all but yanked him into the room. She was still as clean cut and well dressed as ever, but her brown hair was free from its usual style, which meant she was extremely busy. “Good, good, you’re here. Come in, come in, quickly. If I have to make any adjustments to your kimono it needs to be done by the end of the day so I can keep up with my other orders. Do you need help putting the kimono on, or can you manage it by yourself?”

“I–” He cleared his throat. “I can manage.”

“Good. The dressing screen is right there.”

Aether quickly ducked behind the screen and undressed quickly as he slipped on the nagajuban as quickly as possible. Whatever had Chiori so stressed out was her own business, and Aether was not looking to end up on that list. He was thankful he’d spent so much time helping Kuni before so he knew exactly what he was doing.

Once the nagajuban was secured, Aether reached for the garment bag hanging there and unzipped it carefully. He gasped, almost surely audibly as soon as he saw the full garment.  It was a beautiful creation, a light purple that darkened to the bottom embroidered with golden stars. He was at the same time excited and terrified to wear it, but he was sure Chiori was going to cut his hair if he dallied, so he quickly got himself dressed. His obi was dark brown and the obijime was gold to match his stars. He knew Chiori would make something incredible, but this had managed to surpass his expectations ten fold.

Once he was sure everything was secure, he stepped out from behind the screen. Chiori glanced over at him and immediately began taking up his hem. “Yes, that would suit you much better. Okay, two centimeters need to be removed, but I need to find a way to do that without disrupting the pattern. I don’t suppose you want additional adornments or patterns, do you?”

“No, this is… perfect.”

“It will be once I’m done. Are you planning on wearing those hair pins?”

Aether reached for his head. “Uh… no, not for the wedding.”

“Noted. Do you know how to do your makeup?”

“Makeup?”

“That’s a no.” She sighed. “How patient are you?”

“Very.”

“Good. You keep better care of your skin than when I met you, so that’s good. You’ll probably still need some foundation though. A bit of blush and lip color… and let’s give you some eyeliner.”

“Eyeliner?”

“Are you questioning my creative vision?”

Aether held up his hands. “I’m simply… wary about things getting close to my eyes.”

“Hmm. A meaningless concern. I am not so inept as to get something in your eyes when I am doing your makeup.”

“Of course, I have faith in your vision. I’m just… explaining myself in case I get antsy in the chair.”

“Sit. We’ll do a practice session now.”

“I wouldn’t want to take up too much of your time…”

“Nonsense. I wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t have the time for it. Take that off and sit.”

Aether really didn’t have any room to argue, so he just quickly got changed and sat down. Chiori came by with a pot filled with a pink substance and a small brush. “Stay still and keep your eyes open.”

Aether really did try his best, but stuff near his eyes was usually dangerous, and Chiori’s self assurance made for a makeup application that was… not very careful or gentle. He flinched a couple times, but Chiori squeezed his wrist a few times and he eventually relaxed. Once she was done, he looked at himself in the mirror and was pretty shocked by how different he… looked? Felt? Chiori had put a little color around the edge of his eyes like Kuni liked to, but where his makeup usually ended in a crisp solid line, Aether’s softened until it blended in with his skin. It looked really good, sans one thing.

“Don’t look at it like that. I’ll be using purple on your wedding day,” she said simply, reading his expression. “The pink is simply all I have on me right now. This with your kimono would be horrid. Do you need anything else from me today?”

“No, no, this is perfect.”

“Good. Be on your way and I’ll see you on wedding day.”

He nodded and quickly excused himself from the palace. With nothing to do until the rehearsal, he decided to have some time wandering around town. He figured that spending too much time cooped up in the palace was taking a toll on his mental wellbeing. He couldn’t go too far, but he parked himself on a quiet cliff between Inazuma City and Konda Village. It was nice to just feel the breeze on his cheeks, the sunlight warming his hands, and hear the sounds of waves crashing on the shore. All the hustle and bustle of the castle just made him excited for the days when he would finally be alone and at peace with his husband.

Aether smiled at the thought. He and Kuni had made plans to start a small garden in their backyard once they were back there. He had an entire list of dishes he was going to make for Kuni from other nations when he got the chance. And they still had a decent amount of decorating they’d have to do with all of their gifts when they returned. And then after that… they could relax. Cuddle. Let time pass them by.

“Oh, hey there.” Aether looked up to see Yoimiya holding some crates in her arms. She smiled and tilted her head to the side. “Heya there, traveler. I wasn’t expecting to see you here today. What brings you here alone? Not a spat with lover boy, I hope.”

Aether snickered. “No, no. His Highness and I are fine. Don’t let him catch you calling him that.”

Yoimiya snickered. “He’ll never know. Unless you’re a little rat.”

“I would never.” His eyes darted to the crates. “What’s all that?”

“Tester fireworks for the big day!” she said proudly. “You know, why don’t you stay here? I’m gonna run over to Amakane Island. I know it’s daytime, but this is really the only time I have to test them. 

Aether nodded. “Sure thing. I don’t mind getting a bit of a spoiler.”

“Great! And don’t worry, fireworks always look better at night anyway.”

Yoimiya rushed off and Aether leaned back to watch the island. The sun was reaching its peak in the sky as Yoimiya ran around, putting various canisters in various spots across the ground, doing little dances and stretches as she did. She waved at Aether and he waved back before she lit the fuse and ran back a bit.

Even with the daylight making the fireworks harder to see, Aether was still blown away with the quality of the work. An impressive display of purple and gold danced against the sky interspersed with bursts of white. Trails of sparks curled into the air and danced beside large balls of light and pops of blue above the tree line. It was stunning, and Aether couldn’t even see half of it.

When it finally ended, Yoimiya waved at Aether again. He smiled and waved back as she rushed back with her now empty crates. “So, whaddaya think? Not bad, huh?”

“It looked incredible from where I was sitting. And you did cause like seven people to stop what they were doing and watch the show as well. I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the night of.”

“It’s gonna be amazing, I promise!”

Aether laughed. “Oh, there was no doubt there. Do you need some help carrying those back?”

“Oh, please. I carried these here full of supplies, I can manage.” Her eyes sparkled a bit. “But, if you want to accompany me, I was feeling a bit hungry. We could get lunch together once I drop these off. Up for it?”

Aether nodded and stood up. “Mind if we get takeout and go somewhere quiet?”

“Is the palace getting too much for you?”

“A lot of the nobles are staying in the guest quarters. I’m just starting to get a little… overwhelmed by all the people walking around all the time.” He took some crates from Yoimiya and ignored her indignant cry as he did. “In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal, but I’m happy to get a moment to just unwind.”

“Ah, I kinda get that. It’s nice to get a quiet moment every once in a while, especially in my line of work.”

They returned to Amakane Island later, both of them having ordered katsu sandwiches. Aether let Yoimiya talk about the events she’d been commissioned to work for, and he told her about his time in Sumeru and Fontaine and Natlan. He mostly told her about the people he’d met and the more low key adventures he’d been on. He’d leave the exciting stories for Lumine to tell.

“This was nice,” he said as he noticed the sun starting to make its descent, “But I probably should get going if I want to make it back to the palace in time for the rehearsal. Take care of yourself Yoimiya.”

“You too Aether! I’ll see you on wedding day!”

Aether nodded as he rushed off. It wasn’t until he was back in the city proper that he even thought to consider the oddity of her statement. He didn’t think it was typical to see the firework operators at an event. Then again, Yoimiya was pretty well known and could absolutely put on a little show before lighting up the display.

He got back to the palace with plenty of time to spare. Some people noticed him returning and began to talk, but he just strode through the palace until he found his starting place on one side of the training grounds, as well as a few welcome faces. “So this is who the cat dragged in?”

Lumine turned around and smiled as Paimon flew over to him. “There you are! We were looking through you all around town and no one had seen you!”

“Sorry, sorry,” he hugged her lightly. “I was enjoying lunch with Yoimiya today. She tested fireworks with me and we got to talking about other stuff. Good to see you two. You are staying for dinner after the rehearsal, right?”

“Of course we are! What kind of friend do you take Paimon for?!”

“Well considering how you dumped me in Liyue–”

“Well excuse us for letting you have some alone time with your fiancé,” Lumine cut in. “We sincerely apologize for leaving you be with the prince in an inn and letting you handle your honeymoon details as if you were an adult or something. Next time, I’ll hold your hand and make sure you have plenty of snacks.”

Aether snorted. “Whatever, brat.”

“Oh good, you’re here.” Yae MIko came around the corner, smiling. “Thank you for being punctual. You wouldn’t believe how little you can rely on some people to do that. We’re just going to talk you through the procedures for the wedding and then your family will sit down with the royal family for a traditional family meal. Oh, but you two are going to have to go join the other guests.”

Lumine nodded. “We’ll see you soon.”

He waved them off, and almost the second they were out of sight, Miko had grabbed him by the shoulders. “Goodness me, it’s almost the day! You must be so excited! And possibly a bit nervous? More than a bit.”

“I am,” he said quietly as he turned around. “So I would appreciate it if you refrained from giving me any incorrect information about how the ceremony is supposed to work.”

Her purple eyes widened as she pouted. “You really think I would do something like that?”

“In a heartbeat.”

She dropped the pout just as quickly and giggled. “Oh, you’re no fun. But fine.”

He sighed and rolled his shoulders back. “So what happens first?”

“A great deal of waiting,” Miko said. “I’m getting bored just thinking of it. The musicians will play an entrance theme as Kunikuzushi’s guests walk in. Then there will be a brief pause, they’ll play another entrance theme for your guests, and then you’ll finally walk out and bow to all of your guests. And that’s before I even get a chance to say anything.”

Aether nodded. “Right. But you’ll be at the altar when we start, yes?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’ll speak a rite of blessing to bless your marriage, and the two of you will say your vows. You’ll share a kiss, walk back down the aisle, then get in your carriage to take you on a tour of Narukami Island. You and Kunikuzushi will wave to everyone celebrating your marriage. This part will probably take a few hours. Then when the tour is over, you’ll join the rest of us for your reception dinner at the north of Narukami before you set off on your honeymoon.”

“Right.”

“Oh, stop fretting.” Miko patted him on the head and snickered. “You’ve taken care of most of the arrangements already, just breathe. There’s nothing you need to worry about besides saying your vows.”

Aether took a deep breath and rubbed his wrists. “I’m calm.”

“Good.” She winked. “I’m going to go get in position, and then we’ll start.”

Despite Yae’s words, as soon as the music started, Aether’s nerves spiked again. He shook his hands and ankles out and traced the lines in the ceiling with his eyes to distract himself. Archons, there was no fucking reason to be this high strung. It wasn’t even the real thing, it was a rehearsal. The music stopped for a brief moment and swelled again, and Aether almost reached for the door before remembering that wasn’t his cue. He just laughed to himself and shook his head, waited for the end of the short refrain before opening the door.

Kunikuzushi was standing right in front of him at the makeshift altar, but the moment their eyes locked, Aether felt the stress melt away, evaporating into mist as the door closed behind him. Kuni smiled a little bit and that little bit was all it took to ease his worry away into nothing. Gods, he was so in love. Kuni tilted his head to the side and Aether quickly turned to bow to his sister and the few friends that had assembled for the rehearsal. The disparity between his guests and Kuni's supporters was obvious, and was sure to only get bigger on the wedding date, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

“Okay, after that, you two will step forward and hold hands.” Aether had to restrain himself from running forward and just walked over like a not fully obsessed lovesick fool. He probably had a stupid grin on his face despite all that. He could tell by Kuni’s happy and exasperated expression.

“So, since this isn’t the real wedding, I’m not going to go into the full spiel today,” Miko said gently. “But let it be known that in order to properly bless the wedding I will have to recite a complicated rite that will take a while. Perhaps I should use something else to fill the time… A story about the prince when he was young perhaps.”

“Absolutely not,” Kuni said flatly.

“Oh, but it would be so fun.”

“Was I unclear with my words, Guuji Yae?”

She chuckled. “Fine, fine. Once I am done with my speech that both of you will listen to and pay attention to the entire time, you will speak your vows to one another. Would you like to give us a preview to your vows?”

“Do I have to?”

“Just a small bit can't hurt, don't you think?”

Kunikuzushi sighed and looked at Aether. “I love you.”

Yae Miko groaned and Aether stifled a laugh. “I love you too.”

She shook her head. “Then I will pronounce you husbands and you will kiss and then you will walk down the aisle to get in your carriage.”

Kuni leaned in and gave Aether a quick kiss on the cheek before they stepped apart. A brief bout of applause echoed out and they held hands as they walked down the aisle. As soon as the door to the training grounds shut, Kuni stopped and leaned closer to Aether as he smiled and kissed him on the lips. “I missed you all day.”

Aether leaned forward to recapture his lips, humming softly when Kuni’s arms wrapped around his waist. He pulled away reluctantly, pressing his forehead against Kuni’s. It was such a relief to have a familiar face, body, smell, presence at his side again. He was nearly breathless as he said, “I missed you too.”

“Ugh.” Aether glanced to his right. Against a crowd of guests exiting was Lumine, Paimon, Raiden Ei and Raiden Shogun, who was watching them with a disgusted expression and crossed arms. “You two are so in love it’s gross.”

“Oh, shut up,” Kuni snapped.

Ei sighed. “Be nice.”

Aether hummed and kissed Kuni’s cheek. “She’s just jealous.”

“I am not– Oh my god.” Aether beamed when Kuni chuckled. “Come on idiots. Let’s go to dinner. The sooner I get away from the two of you when you’re like this, the better.”

Chapter Text

The morning of the big day, Aether woke up cold. Well, not really, but he didn’t wake up in a bed with his fiancé clinging to him like his life depended on it. He woke up in a guest room with his sister and Paimon in a small bed by himself. He wasn’t allowed to see his fiancé’s face until the wedding. He didn’t want to disrespect Inazuman marriage traditions, but gods he wanted to wake up with Kunikuzushi at his side. He stared at the ceiling and laughed quietly to himself. Lumine would never let him hear the end of it if she could hear his internal monologue.

He jumped out of bed, making his bed and cleaning up his things before stepping out of his room. Kujou Sara was waiting outside his room, nodding. “Good morning Aether. Did you rest well?”

“Eh.” He bounced on his feet. “I’ve been looking forward to today for such a long time. Couldn’t really sleep all that much but I’m not tired.”

“As long as you’re ready for today. We should start moving.”

Aether nodded and followed her out of the palace. As he looked around at the walls surrounding them, Aether was suddenly struck by a sense of familiarity. “Three years later and you’re escorting me all over again.”

Kujou Sara hummed as they exited the palace and began heading for the Grand Narukami Shrine. “I’m relieved I’m not taking you to another trial. It’s rare I get to deal with a happier, more lighthearted occasion.”

Aether looked at her. “Surely things have calmed down after all this time?”

“Calmer than when you arrived, sure. But you know things continued to be a mess after the war ended. Weeding out the remaining Fatui in the nation has been a pain. Not to mention the utter chaos that came with the Mikawa Flower Festival. What a perfect mess that was. If you hadn’t been there to help, I have no idea how long resolving that situation could have taken. Thank you for that.”

“Oh come on, you’ve thanked me for my help more than enough times. I was happy to be of assistance.” They got out of the city proper and started on the path to Chinju forest as the sun found its perch in the sky. “Besides, that’s just going to be part of my job after I’m a married man. Simply my duty.”

“A duty we should be grateful you perform anyway.”

Aether almost rolled his eyes. “And I’m sure you’re stellar at accepting praise and gratitude when someone thanks you for helping them.”

“If it is in my capacity as a general then–”

“Then nothing. You and I are birds of a feather. Uh… pun not intended.”

Kujou Sara gave a solitary chuckle. “I suppose. Perhaps we’ll be working together more in the future.”

“I look forward to it,” Aether said with a smile.

When they finally made it up to the shrine, Aether was quickly ushered into a room where he could get prepared. After bathing and washing his hair, he waited until his hair was sufficiently dry before getting dressed. The last thing he needed to do was ruin his clothes with water.

“Aether, can I come in?”

“Yes, I’m decent.” Chiori walked into the room to find him watching his reflection in the mirror. He stopped to greet her properly, still smiling. “I never realized such a small change could alter the look of an outfit so much.”

Chiori nodded at him, gesturing to the chair set up for him. “Give me a moment to get set up. Your hair is going to take a long while to braid. Be patient.”

Aether sighed as he slipped into the chair. “Yes ma’am.” Anything that meant he wouldn’t have to deal with it himself.

While Chiori worked on his hair, Aether dedicated himself to a quick skincare routine Chiori had designed for him. She’d even provided a card with instructions in her delicate handwriting. It was undoubtedly beautiful, but Aether did have to squint a few times to understand what to do. It didn’t exactly help that when he needed to lean closer to read what she’d written, Chiori would yank on his hair to get him to put his head back where she needed it.

He’d only finished rubbing some toner into his skin when he heard a couple familiar voices echoing down the hall. “Well, if Paimon’s right, he should be in… here!” The door slid open and Lumine quickly turned around, covering her eyes. “Good morning!”

“Good morning Paimon,” he said softly. “It’s okay, Lumine, I’m dressed.”

“Huh?” Paimon looked at Lumine. “Oh, come on. He’s been here for hours. He’d at least have his pants on.”

“You really should always knock or announce yourself before you open a door where someone is getting dressed,” Lumine said as she slipped into the room. She and Paimon  were already dressed in their kimonos. Lumine’s was light blue covered in clouds with a four pointed star close to her heart. Paimon was wearing one with the colors of a sunrise with four pointed stars all over her obi. Both of their obijime were gold. “You remember all your vows?”

Aether laughed lightly, even as his stomach squeezed. “Yes Lumine. I know my vows.”

“Good, I thought my brain was going to melt if I heard those words one more time.”

He rolled his eyes. “I guess you shouldn’t come to the ceremony then.”

“I’ll bear with it. For your sake.” She squeezed next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Remember to breathe. As important as today is, we all know that this doesn’t really matter. The man on the other side of this shrine is somehow more in love with you than you are with him. Relax. It’s more about the pompousness and ceremony of it than anything else.”

“I know.” He looked up. “Thanks for coming.”

She scoffed. “What, you thought I would miss this? Not for the world, idiot.”

Aether smiled and quickly went back to his skincare. “How are you holding up back there Chiori? Need a break?”

“I’m fine,” she said breezily. “How many more steps are on that card?”

“Uh… just the last one.”

“Good.” He heard the sound of footsteps. “That means I can take a break before we get to your makeup. How much time do we have before the ceremony?”

“An hour and a half, just about,” Paimon said.

“Plenty of time. I’m going to use the changing screen then.” Chiori grabbed a garment bag Aether hadn’t noticed and slipped behind the screen.

Aether just took the final serum and began rubbing it into his cheeks. “I hope I didn’t wake you two up when I left.”

“Nah, we were fine,” Paimon said as she floated down onto the vanity. “Even if you did, we could’ve just gone back to sleep. You’re like… buzzing.”

“Am I?” Aether put the jar down on the vanity and checked the card. 15 minutes for it to relax. “I don’t know, I just… this wedding has been in the works for so long. It’s almost surreal that today is the day. Sometimes it felt like I’d just be engaged for the rest of my life.”

Lumine laughed. “You’re so impatient.”

“Excuse you. I waited a year for this wedding. You start tapping your foot if you have to wait two days for someone to collect information.” He rubbed his wrist a bit and then stood up. “I wanna see my hair.”

“It looks great,” Lumine said. “Stop stressing out.”

“I still want to see.” It just looked like the curtain of hair he always had when he had just gotten out of the bath from where he was sitting.

“Well let me get a picture with my kamera,” Lumine said. “And then a picture of the three of us.”

Aether nodded and turned around. He stood as still as he possibly could before hearing the flash and snap of the camera. He quickly rushed over and ignored Lumine laughing as he eagerly waited for the film to develop.

When it fully left the kamera, Aether snatched the photograph and fanned it back and forth. Lumine laughed at him, but he just stuck out his tongue as he continued. Once he was sure that it was at least mostly developed, he looked at the image and grinned. Chiori had twisted and braided his hair into thin strands at the top of his head that gradually merged with each other as they cascaded across his head, intertwined with each other before being tied off in one large piece close to the ends. It kind of looked like a tree, but it was also just an abstract piece of art, not unlike Chiori’s own hair. “It’s perfect.”

“Of course it is.” Chiori stepped out from behind the screen. She’d gotten into a black kimono with gold and red lines overlapping with one another made from ribbons crossing over one another.

Aether checked the time. “There’s just a couple more minutes for the serum to settle, so…”

There was a knock on the doorframe. “Aether? May we enter?” Raiden Ei asked.

“Yes, come in.”

Everyone bowed as she entered with her daughter. Lumine and Paimon quickly slipped out of the room with a quick wave. Ei smiled while Raiden Shogun walked in holding a large wrapped object, long and thin. “I don’t know if Kunikuzushi told you, but it’s traditional for a family to give a present to their loved one’s betrothed on the day of their wedding. So we have something for you.”

“Oh.” Aether swallowed. “You didn’t have to–”

“Oh, hush.” Raiden Shogun held out the box to him. It was wrapped in a soft white silk. “You’re good for my brother, and that’s really all that matters to me. I have no idea what you even see in that little twerp–

“Be nice.” Ei scolded.

“But you make him happy and he makes you happy, so I’m not complaining. I… Worried about him sometimes. Before you came along, I was certain he would just hole himself up in his wing of the palace and refuse to ever leave. We might not see eye to eye all the time… or even at all. But I’m happy for him. So stop being so weirdly resistant to accepting gratitude and just take the gift already.”

Aether took the package with shaky hands and unwrapped it. It held a simple wooden box with two golden latches. When he flipped the latches open, he found an intricately shaped sword. Two metallic blades in different shades of purple twined with each other. “This is beautiful.”

Ei nodded. “It is… fairly decorative. I would not recommend using it on the battlefield.”

“Understood.” He put the sword back in the box and traced it with his fingers. “Thank you both so much.”

They both smiled at him. “We’re glad you like it.”

As he wrapped the box again and set it to the side, Chiori walked over to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. “If you’ll excuse us, Your Highnesses, I do need to finish helping him get ready for the wedding. You’ll get a chance to see him later.”

Ei nodded. “Yes ma’am. We’ll see you later Aether.”

Aether leaned back and relaxed as Chiori set to work. She massaged his face a bit before grabbing the foundation powder and a brush. She was an efficient worker, silent and precise but more gentle than before. At some point, he even fell asleep and Chiori had to wake him up to do his eyeliner.

“Do you need any changes?”

Aether glanced at his reflection and grinned. “No, this is perfect as always. Thank you Chiori.” Besides the eyeliner, it barely looked like he had any makeup on at all, but he also felt like he was glowing.

“Glad to be of assistance.” She pulled his chair back and he got up. “I’m going to get going now. Relax.”

“Yes ma’am.”

She slid out the door and Aether dropped down into his chair again. There wasn’t too much time before the ceremony started, but there was just enough time for him to get stuck in his head. But he wasn’t going to let himself spiral again. He just walked around the room taking deep breaths and thinking about how happy he was that the day had finally come. About what it would finally be like to escape the craziness of everything surrounding him, to take his husband and be alone. His husband. He laughed a little to himself. Kunikuzushi was about to be his husband.

When the time finally came, one of the shrine maidens came by to take him to the venue. His heart was trying to break out of his chest at that point, but he followed her calmly and waited right outside the gate, hands twitching at his sides. “Wait here, please. The ceremony will start soon.”

Aether nodded and shook his hands out as she walked away before smiling up at the sky. He closed his eyes, traced his knuckles with his thumb, and counted the seconds. Probably with a dumb grin on his face too.

When the music started, he almost screamed, thank god he didn’t, because that might have ruined the mood and alarmed his sister. He almost rubbed his eyes too, but then remembered all the make up he was wearing and caught himself. Chiori would have killed him.

He heard the short lull in the music, and then the footsteps of his husband-to-be. Archons, he probably looked so beautiful and handsome. He was itching to finally see him in his kimono. He had asked Chiori for any details she’d be willing to share with him, and she’d only told him, “It’ll look amazing.” He hadn’t been brave enough to ask for any other information.

The music started again and Aether resisted the urge to bounce on the balls of his feet. Maybe Lumine was right and he was impatient, but he would never tell her that. He was just glad the cue of guests for him was short so he wouldn’t be waiting too long.

Except he was waiting a while. A long while. Aether frowned and counted on his fingers. Lumine, Paimon, Ayato and Ayaka and Thoma, Kokomi and Gorou. Chiori had been invited a bit last minute, but still, that was eight people. And Paimon could float alongside Lumine. Had something happened? No, there was no way something had happened, not something bad. Maybe there was just a mishap. Yeah, that was probably it. If something bad had happened there would be a lot less music and a lot more screaming. He could hear a lot of chatter, so… No, no. He rolled his shoulders back and willed himself to stop catastrophizing. When he finally heard the music decrescendo and fade, he took one last deep breath, fixed his posture and stepped through the door.

As he walked out, he risked a glance out into the audience and nearly fell over. The aisles on his side of the audience were packed with dozens of people, all friends from his journey. Itto and Shinobu were there, Xiao was sitting next to Venti, and Kaveh was close to the front while Al Haitham was way in the back. Arlecchino was sitting with her children and Kachina was there with Kinich and Mualani on either side of her. All of them were in beautiful kimonos, and most of them were smiling at him. He was stunned, but remembered himself just in time to stop and bow. He probably bowed for longer than he needed to, but the sight of so many people in attendance was overwhelming and he wanted to compose himself for a moment.

And thank god he took it, because when he stood up and Yae Miko gestured for them to walk together, Aether was overtaken by an entirely new wave of emotions. Kunikuzushi was absolutely stunning, wearing a kimono with the same purple gradient as Aether’s. Where Aether had stars, Kunikuzushi instead had patterns of petals falling around a Thunder Sakura tree. His obi was white and obijime dark purple. He looked so delicate and perfect that Aether thought he was going to start crying.

“Good afternoon, friends and esteemed guests,” Yae Miko started. “Thank you for joining us today as we join these two souls in matrimony. Today is a momentous occasion in the history of the royal family of Inazuma.”

Kunikuzushi squeezed Aether’s hand and he blinked. Miko’s voice faded away as Aether stared into his eyes and kept his expression at a soft smile instead of the stupid lovesick grin that was clawing at the sides of his cheeks trying to escape.

“Hold out your hands,” Miko said and Aether snapped out of his trance. They both held out their hand closest to Miko. She took a rope made from cords of red and white twisted around each other. She tied one end to Kunikuzishi’s right wrist and the other one to Aether’s left. “This is a symbol of your bond, strong and everlasting, keeping you together for the rest of eternity. It has been blessed to last for the rest of your relationship and intertwine your souls together. The incantation is almost complete. All it needs now is for the two of you to say your vows, pronouncing your love and sealing the union. Your Highness, if you’ll do us the honors and go first.”

“My beautiful shining sun,” he started without any hesitation. Aether thought he was going to melt into a puddle. “You are the light in my life I never expected to find. I was content to be alone the rest of my life, and then you came in out of nowhere and shone a warmth that I didn’t know I was missing. Three years of knowing you overshadowed the centuries I spent by myself and left me feeling cold without you at my side. You took the time and gave me the grace to understand me in ways that no one else ever had. My life would truly be incomplete without you and I’m so lucky to call you mine. More than the stars love the night sky, I love you. I vow to always be your better half, as you have been mine.”

Aether had to take a moment to calm himself down. Yae Miko held out her hand toward Kuni and a small orb of purple light hovered above her palm. She looked at Aether and he nodded before looking at Kunikuzushi again.

After a deep breath and brief moment to close his eyes, he looked into the most beautiful pair of lavender eyes he’d ever seen. “My shining north star.” Kuni’s eyes widened just a fraction and Aether felt a spark of confidence as he continued. “I’ve traveled this world and many others. But I never really, truly knew what it was like to be home until I came back to you. Whenever I feel lost, I know I can come to you for guidance and comfort. With you, I only know safety and peace. Every step of my journey, every exhausting day, every injury and day I cried was worth it to be here with you today. I’m blessed to appreciate the mundane with you by my side. More than the waves love meeting the shore, I love you too. I promise to always strive to be your better half as you have been mine.”

Yae Miko held out her other hand and a purple light emanated from it. Both balls of light were absorbed into the cord and Aether felt a tiny spark in his wrist. “The rite is sealed and the bond is complete. I pronounce you as husbands. You may now kiss.”

The second she stepped back, Kunikuzushi stepped forward and put his free hand on Aether’s cheek right next to his lips and pulled him closer. Aether leaned in and kissed him behind that hand to momentous applause. Not that he heard any of it, deep in the feeling of finally, finally being married after all the stress they’d gone through.

When they did pull apart, the exit of the venue opened up and Aether walked out with Kuni, waving to all of his friends as they stood up. A bolt of lightning took them from the top of the mountain to the bottom base of it near the Kamisato Estate and they got into the carriage. Thankfully, the cord tying them together didn’t make getting into too difficult.

“Darling,” he asked as they started to move through Chinju Forest. “When did you find the time to invite all my friends?”

“I outsourced it to your sister,” he said, smiling softly. “Don’t worry, I took care of all the extraneous arrangements, so they’ll be able to have dinner with us.”

“You… I thought you wanted a small wedding. As small as possible.”

“I wanted you to feel special more than I wanted to keep it small.”

“You…” Aether could already hear the clamor of the crowd lined up at the forest’s edge from where he was sitting, but couldn’t help himself when he surged forward and kissed Kunikuzushi. Everything in his world narrowed down to his beautiful husband right by his side.

Eventually, Kuni pulled away, putting a hand on his chest. “Honey, we’re supposed to be waving and throwing gifts, not giving people a show.”

“There aren’t going to be any people until we leave the forest.”

“Darling.”

“Fine, fine.” He reached for one of the many buckets of sakura flowers attached to small pouches of candy that had been set out for them. The second they crossed out of the forest, he and Kuni both threw up a handful, much to the enjoyment of the crowd. “There’s so many people.”

“Of course there are. This is the first time anyone in my family is getting married. And I picked a damn good one.” Kuni spread out the petals in an arch over his head before smiling. “Future generations are gonna have a hard time topping you.”

“I thought topping me was your job?”

Kunikuzushi looked at Aether, thoroughly unamused. Aether just laughed and threw his own burst of gifts up into the air before kissing him on the cheek. “You think you’re so clever,” Kuni muttered, throwing another handful.

“Grump and grouch at me all you want.” Aether tugged on the rope connecting them. “You know you love me.”

“I love you,” he relented. “Even though you’re a cheeky brat.”

Aether smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you too.”

They laughed together as the carriage lapped around Inazuma City a couple times, throwing out as many goodies as possible. As the carriage prepared to head down to Konda Village though, Aether spotted a familiar face flying towards them. “Paimon?”

She landed with a soft thud on the bench between them as they began heading north. “Oh, this is comfy! Not bad.”

“What are you doing here? You know we have some goodies for you back at the reception.”

“Of course!” Paimon pouted. “Paimon is just here for a favor.”

Kunikuzushi threw another handful, prompting Aether to do the same. “What favor?”

“Our friend Charlotte is from the Steambird!” she said. “It’s a newspaper in Fontaine! She’s a reporter and wanted to know if she could get a picture of you two in your carriage for the paper! Plus a couple other things later.”

Aether looked over. “Honey?”

He smiled. “I suppose it wouldn’t be too much trouble. We did invite a reporter after all. As long as she doesn’t follow us to our honeymoon. Go on, tell her it’s fine.”

“Great! See you soon!” Paimon rocketed off into the sky and they continued throwing gifts.

“Thank you, darling.”

“Let’s just hope she’s damn good at taking pictures.”

Aether smiled. “Don’t worry. Charlotte’s great at pictures.”

It wasn’t until they started to head out of Konda Village that they even spotted Charlotte, preparing her kamera with Lumine and Paimon at her side. Aether grabbed a handful of sweets just as Kunikuzushi put a hand on his shoulder. He threw them and turned at the same time, just to be pulled into a smothering kiss as he heard the flash of Charlotte’s kamera. It was passionate but brief, and when he pulled away, he couldn’t help but stare at Kuni, looking extremely pleased with himself. Aether couldn’t even bring himself to be mad at his husband. His beautiful, sweet, perfect husband.

Chapter Text

When they finally arrived at the reception, the first person to greet them was Yae Miko, having changed out of her shrine maiden attire to a kimono of her own, still in red and white. She was watching them with a grin as they stepped out of the carriage. “Well, it seems you two had fun today. Is there anything left in those barrels?”

“Those were gifts meant to thank the people for their continued support of the royal family and our wedding,” Kunikuzushi said as he took Aether’s hand for support. “Of course there’s nothing left, it would be disingenuous of us to hold onto even a handful. There are party favors for you Guuji Yae, you know that.”

“I wanted to make sure you spread them out properly,” she said with a light smile. “Are you ready to be introduced to the reception or do the two of you want a moment?”

“We’ll just take a few minutes,” Aether said. “I’m sure I have more than a few flower petals stuck in my hair and I’d like to take them out before we go out there.”

“I’m sure the guests won’t mind.”

“He said he wanted to take them out,” Kuni said firmly as he pulled Aether away. “So we’ll be taking a few minutes. Thank you for your patience Guuji Yae. We’ll just step right over here for a moment.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll be waiting right here when you’re ready.” 

Aether led Kuni to a sequestered area behind some trees and shook out the curtain of hair behind him. “How does it look?”

“There’s certainly a lot stuck in your hair,” Kuni said, picking away. They had to position themselves a bit awkwardly thanks to the cord, but Kuni worked as deftly as he could while Aether moved his hand as much as he could to help. “But you’ve never been one to care about dirt on your face, let alone petals in your hair. What’s this about?”

“I just wanted to give you an excuse to wind down and prepare yourself before we went out there,” Aether admitted. “We’re gonna be surrounded by people for pretty much the rest of the night and I thought we both might like to have just a few minutes to ourselves.”

Kuni chuckled. “Thoughtful as ever, darling.”

“Kuni.”

“Yeah?”

Aether turned around a bit. “We’re married.”

Kuni shook his head in a combination of exasperation and elation. “We’re married.”

“I’m your husband.”

“And I yours.” He leaned closer and kissed Aether on the lips gently. “Now turn around so I can finish getting these flower petals out. Long hair looks good on you, but it is quite conducive to picking up every little thing.”

It took a lot longer than Aether was expecting. Maybe even ten minutes. Yae Miko looked slightly annoyed when they finally rejoined her. “Ah, there you are. Come, come, everyone is eagerly anticipating your arrival. Let’s not keep them waiting any longer.”

The northern most part of the island had been reserved for the ceremony, cleared of all monsters by the Kamisato Estate. The grounds were sectioned off with a simple barrier of thin wire frames covered in purple wisteria, weeping willow branches, and even more thunder sakura flowers. A couple soldiers stood guard by the entrance, chatting with Kujou Sara until they noticed the trio approaching. The two soldiers bowed while Sara hurried back into the party as if nothing had happened. Miko shook her head and stepped through the gates. Aether waited as the simple sound of a bell rang out and the hum of chatter fell into pure silence. “Introducing the honorable Prince Kunikuzushi of Inazuma and Prince Consort Aether.”

They stepped through the gates and a loud round of applause echoed across the grounds. Aether waved to a couple friendly faces before they were quickly escorted to a table that stretched out far in both directions. Aether’s guests sat to his right and Kuni’s to their left.

Dinner was a mostly uneventful affair. Sans some chopstick mishaps, including Bennet somehow managing to get his stuck in Razor’s hair, it was just fine. The food was absolutely delicious. Plentiful piles of sashimi, generous helpings of seaweed salad, a red bean and rice dish called sekihan, thin slices of beef. They finished their meal with sake, and Aether carefully took a tiny sip before he and Kuni traded cups and finished off their cups as everyone applauded again.

Or that was supposed to be the end of their meal, but the servers came by with one more dish. A soft, pale green treat served with spoons. Kuni looked up at Aether in confusion. “What the hell is this?” he muttered, missing the glare his mother threw at him.

“You’re not the only one who can plan surprises,” Aether said with a soft smile before  dipping his spoon into Kuni’s bowl and holding it out to his husband. “Matcha ice cream. Thoma gave me a taste test a couple months ago after we got back from Liyue. Go on honey, have a bit. I think you’ll like it.”

Kuni took the smallest bite from the spoon and tasted it thoughtfully. “You jerk,” he muttered before eating the rest of his ice cream. “Planning such a nice surprise, being all thoughtful and shit. You’re insufferable. I can’t believe I’m going to get to live with you being all considerate for the rest of my life. I love you.”

Aether smiled and kissed his lips, chasing the taste. “I love you too.”

“Could two you stop being gross?” Lumine asked as she stared at them. “Some of us are trying to eat here.”

“Close your eyes then,” Kuni said before feeding Aether a scoop of his ice cream.

Once their meal was done, most of the nobles gave them well wishes and headed back up the mountain, intent on watching the fireworks from the comfort of the Grand Narukamui Shrine. Aether and Kunikuzushi thanked all of them for attending and waved them away. As the sun started to go down, they started to light fires all around the grounds to keep everyone staying there warm.

“Your Highnesses.”

Kuni turned around and tugged on Aether’s wrist. Sucrose and Lisa were approaching with smiles. “Hello. Kunikuzushi, this is the librarian of the Knights of Favonius Jean, and Scorse, who’s the assistant to the knights’ Alchemist.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Prince Kunikuzushi,” Lisa said before they both shook his hand. “Thank you so much for the gracious invitations. Most of our cohort has never had the chance to leave Mondstadt’s borders, so they’re having plenty of fun right now.”

Kuni smiled a little and nodded. “That’s good to hear.”

“Sorry that Master Jean and Mr. Albedo couldn’t make it,” Sucrose said. “They sent well wishes with us, as well as some gifts. Jean is taking care of Mondstadt while the rest of us are here. And Mr. Albedo is making sure that Klee and Alice are entertained while we’re here.”

“Oh. it’s no problem,” Aether said. “We’re glad they were thinking of us.”

Kuni pulled on Aether’s sleeve. “Klee is the five year old throwing bomb in the lake?”

“That would be her. Though, she’s… seven? Eight years old by now?”

Lisa shrugged. “That’s between her and Alice. I’m lucky enough to stay out of the Spark Knight’s antics.”

“Excuse me.” Yae Miko reappeared and Kuni tensed up. “Did I hear you mention a woman by the name of Alice?”

“Oh yes. She’s the mother of one of our darling knights, Klee.” Lisa said with a smile. “Alice isn’t around a lot though, so we watch Klee for her. Albedo and Kaeya do most of the work though, bless them.”

“And Alice is a… tall woman? Blonde hair and big red hat?”

“That would be her,” Lisa said cheerfully.

“Do you know her?” Sucrose asked. “We could pass along a message to her if you’ve lost touch.”

“Oh, goodness no, that’s all right. It’s been a long time since we’ve talked, I doubt she even remembers me,” she said, tail twitching behind herself erratically. “It’s good to hear that she’s doing all right. And that she even had a child. How lovely for her. Oh, but look at me, butting into conversation. I just love being social. Please excuse me.”

She rushed off and Lisa coughed into her hand awkwardly. “Well, we’re going to take our leave now. You certainly have a lot of people you need to greet, far be it for us to stop you. Congratulations Your Highnesses.”

They walked off and Aether pulled Kuni away in a different direction. “Do you need something to drink before we do some more socializing?”

Kuni sighed. “That may be a good idea. Let’s track down some more sake.”

“Right here.”

They both jumped when they saw Kazuha appearing very suddenly by their side holding a ceramic bottle and a large, loopy grin. Aether frowned and looked at the bottle in his hands. “How did you even get your hands on that? The servers were supposed to be taking care of the liquor.”

“Oh, I started talking to one of them and they seemed more than happy to take a break, so I offered to fill the cups of guests.”

“And you’re so drunk because…?”

Kazuha smiled. “I’m a guest, aren’t I? I can fill my own cup just fine. And it keeps me from bothering the other servers.”

“Have you filled anyone else’s cups?”

“No one’s asked me.”

Aether was about to chew him out, but Kuni just held out his cup. Kazuha filled it merrily, humming as he did without spilling a single drop. “Not bad, even if you are smashed. Go on honey, take a drink.”

“Fine.” Aether held out his cup and let Kazuha fill it. “Take it easy, or I’m confiscating that bottle.”

“And giving it to me?” Venti asked from over Aether’s shoulder.

“No, Venti, I’m sure you’ve had plenty to drink already.”

“Aww, come on Traveler. Can’t you help out a good friend?”

Kunikuzushi blinked. “You’re drinking our alcohol for free. And eating our food. And your outfit was comped too.”

Venti pouted. “You couldn’t have expensed just one more bottle for me?”

Aether sighed. “No Venti. If we tried to cater to every guest’s personal preferences, we would have made this wedding way more expensive than it would need to be. I’m sure if you want, you could ask someone from around here for a good place to get nice alcohol. Try Kirara or Heizou or Yoimiya.”

“Uh…”

“Blonde lady with the flowers on her obi, the lady over there with the cat ears, and that guy over there with maroon hair.”

“Can’t you just–”

“Barbatos,” Aether hissed quietly.

Venti held up his hands. “Okay, okay, got it. I guess I’ll try that guy over there. Oh, but samaurai, can you pour me a glass before I go?”

Aether gently pulled Kuni away and Kazuha began dancing as he poured the sake. “Sorry about him, he’s got a problem. Someone really should stop him, but no one knows how. You did great for everyone, baby”

“That’s the Anemo Archon?” Kuni asked.

Aether chuckled. “Yes. I know, he’s… a colorful character.”

“Certainly. Not as colorful as that one though.”

“Traveler!” Itto walked up to them with a big grin on his face and Shinobu at his side. “Hey, super thanks for the invite to the swanky party. It’s a little stuffy for my taste but the food was absolutely killer. We should have a rock out party with that kind spread, that would really be epic.”

“Boss.”

“Oh right, congrats on your marriage. Even if it was a little quick.”

Aether frowned. “Quick?”

“Yeah, cause when we were in Liyue, you were with that Kuni guy. What happened to him by the way? You guys seemed really in love back there.”

Aether almost responded, but had to shut his mouth to avoid laughing. Kunikuzushi on the other hand, crossed his arms, tugging Aether closer to him as he narrowed his eyes. “Is your head screwed on correctly?”

Itto just blinked. “Huh? Should I be facing a different way?”

Shinobu patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, boss. I’ll explain later. Congratulations, you two. Thanks for inviting us.”

“Shinobu, my head is facing the right direction, right?”

“Come on Boss, let’s go have a quick chat with Bro Ayato. He’s right over there.” She tugged him along, waving to the two of them as she ushered him away.

“Did she just call the Yashiro Commissioner ‘Bro Ayato?’”

Aether shrugged. “He’s okay with it. From Itto at least, I wouldn’t call him that in a million years.”

“Fascinating,” Kuni said.

“Excuse me?”

They both turned and Aether smiled. “Charlotte, hi.”

The pink haired reporter looked like she was trying not to bounce in her kimono. “Thank you so much for inviting me and letting me document the occasion. Here’s the photos I got of you two earlier. You can let me know which ones, if any, you want me to exclude from the spread. Whatever reasoning you might have, no questions asked.”

Aether took the images from her and smiled. “Oh honey, these look great.” Charlotte had managed to capture them from the moment they’d kissed with candy and petals all around them to them staring at each other with happy grins while candy littered the ground and the petals fluttering around their heads.

“You look like such a lovesick idiot,” Kuni said fondly.

“You’re one to talk, love.”

Kuni handed the pictures back to Charlotte. “They’re all wonderful. I wouldn’t mind any of them being in the paper. Do send us a copy of the paper when it gets published, will you? I’m looking forward to reading it.”

“Oh, thank you.” She pulled out a notepad. “I just have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind. They’ll be very quick, I promise.”

Aether squeezed his husband’s hand. “As long as they’re quick.”

“Right, okay. How important was considering Inazuman wedding traditions when it came to planning?”

Kuni almost laughed. “We… did our best to keep tradition in mind, but we took liberties where we wanted. It’s not common to bring foreigners that aren’t directly related to one of the parties getting married but I thought it was important to make sure Aether had as many people rooting for him as I did for me. Meat isn’t traditional at weddings either, but we wanted to put in a little extra effort for our guests.”

“The matcha ice cream was added specifically for him though,” Aether added. “Though I did figure our guests would appreciate it too.”

“What a powerful love you two have.” Charlotte scribbled away. “Okay, so, where are you all going after this? Are you planning to stay sedentary after this, or do you have plans to travel?”

“We do have a house,” Aether said. “We’ll be staying there after the honeymoon.”

“We don’t plan to stay there forever,” Kunikuzushi interjected. “We have every intention of visiting other countries from time to time, for reasons diplomatic and not. And I’m sure my sister-in-law wouldn’t mind seeing her brother again on a future quest. But most of our plans involve staying on Kannazuka Island.”

“Wonderful, okay, last one.” She grinned extra wide, as though she was having her picture taken. “Which one of you two loves the other more?”

Aether snorted. “Oh come on, I don’t believe in that kind of meaningless competition.”

“I do,” Kuni said. “It’s me.”

“Great.” She shut her notebook quickly, barely restraining a laugh. “Thank you both so much. I might take a couple more pictures walking around, but that’s it from me. Enjoy the rest of your night!”

As she darted off towards Lisa and Kaeya, Aether looked at Kuni. “Any chance you can take to get one over on me, huh?”

“Well of course.” Kuni kissed him. “But it’s true.”

“You keep letting yourself think that.”

“Do you have a contesting point to counter me?”

Aether leaned forward, only to catch a flash of yellow and green in the corner of his eyes. He straightened out and Kuni stared at the floating creature made out of squares. “Oh would you look at that? This lowly peasant has finally deigned to acknowledge my presence. I had to go on such an arduous journey with Kinich and all of his annoying friends and after all that you barely even looked in my direction. What in the heavens graced you and gifted you such arrogance?!”

“What in the world…?”

Aether reached out and grabbed Ajaw by the tail. He squirmed and squawked his displeasure, but Aether ignored him. “Come on honey, we’re going to go bring Ajaw back to his owner before he bothers anyone else.”

“OWNER?!” The tiny dragon pulled as much as he could, but he was ultimately stuck in Aether’s grip. “The Great Dragon Lord K’uhul Ajaw is not anyone’s lowly pet! In fact, that bumbling fool Kinich should be considered my pet if anything! How dare you disgrace me with such words! Unhand me at once or–”

“Oh, that’s where you got off to.” Kinich sighed and took Ajaw back himself. “I’m sorry about that Traveler. And to you too, Your Highness. I’d hoped this idiot could at least control himself at a party where he is a guest, but apparently not.”

“I was not given any fancy clothing or food,” AJaw protested.

“You were offered a kimono and a meal and declined both.”

“I–”

Kinich waved his hand and Ajaw vanished from sight. “I’m so sorry about him. If I could have kept him away while I was here, I would have, but he’s kind of tied to me unfortunately. He should be quiet for the rest of the night, or at least until after the fireworks show.”

“Don’t worry about it Kinich,” Aether said, thanking the stars he’d at least been quiet while the nobles were around. “How was the journey from Natlan? I’m sure it was exhausting.”

“It was certainly long and a bit chaotic. The separation from the Ley Lines are taking some getting used to, but it’s not terrible. The journey through Sumeru was… the forest was nice, the desert was not. Liyue Harbor was very lively.”

“You can’t wait to go back,” Aether guessed.

“I cannot. Inazuma is beautiful, but I never imagined ever going this far beyond the borders of Natlan.”

Kunikuzushi nodded. “I understand. My first time leaving the nation was just a year and a half ago. And I can’t bear to leave this place for very long.”

Kinich nodded. “Do excuse me, but I think I’m going to find a quiet place to watch the fireworks away from the party. Congratulations on your marriage.”

“Thank you Kinich. Good night.”

He nodded and walked off, pulling at his obi. “You have such interesting friends.”

“You invited them.”

“Your sister invited them.”

“You approved them.”

“Because I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“Liar.”

“Mmm? Prove me wrong then.”

“Ah ah, that’s your job. I made the claim first.”

“HEY!” They both jumped and turned around. Beidou was walking up to them, Kazuha slung over one of her shoulders. Her other hand was holding the ceramic sake bottle. “There you are. Been trying to catch you alone all night.”

“Hello Captain,” Kunikuzushi said. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Your Highness. Sorry about this, but we’re going to have to leave early. Someone got a little over zealous with his alcohol consumption and I don’t know if he’s going to make it back to the Alcor by himself.”

Aether shook his head. “No worries Beidou. Thanks for coming. I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, no problem. If I ever get the chance to tie the knot with the wifey, we’ll make sure to get you to join us.”

“Right now, I think you should focus on getting this poor boy back to your ship before he gets sick,” Ningguang said as she joined them with her arms crossed. Aether tried not to be too proud at the sight of her wearing the kimono they’d gifted her. “And don’t go around calling me your ‘wifey.’ It sounds horribly casual and unofficial.”

“Lady Ningguang, hello,” Kunikuzushi said, giving Beidou the ability to escape.

“Hello again, Your Highness. It’s certainly been a while. Congratulations on your marriage.” Ningguang bowed. “Thank you for the gracious invitation.”

“Of course. We’re honored you found the time to join us.”

“Absolutely. After your help with the situation in the Chasm, I felt I did owe it to you to celebrate your union.”

“We were happy to help,” Aether said softly. “I’m glad everything worked out.”

“Have usual mining operations continued?”

“We’re still in the process of making sure it’s safe for visionless miners, but we’re almost back to usual.”

“That’s great. We–”

“Kunikuzushi.” Ei was waving them. “Come over here, let’s take some family photos.”

He nodded. “Do excuse us Lady Ningguang. The light is getting low, so we should go.”

“Of course, be on your way.”

Aether rushed over with Kuni to their families. They wound their fingers together and stood straight. Lumine rested a hand on his shoulder at his side and Paimon decided to float in the air between them. Charlotte finished with her tripod and held up a count down with her fingers before the flash went off. “Raiden Ei, could I possibly get a photo of you with the other archons in attendance today?”

“I wouldn’t mind. Excuse me while I go find Lesser Lord Kusanali.”

“Okay! I’ll get Lady Furina.”

Lumine waved. “I can go get Mauvika for you.”

“That would be great, thank you.”

“Let the two of us find Lady Furina,” Aether said. “You relax Charlotte. I know you’re gathering data for an article, but you deserve to take a break too.”

“But–” 

“We’ll be right back.” Aether pulled Kuni along with him.

“Do you even know where she is?”

“No, but I can see Arlecchino, so she’s probably on the other side of the venue.”

“Why would she be–”

“Oh, there she is! I’ll tell you later.”

Furina was talking to Neuvillette and Chlorinde before she noticed the two of them approaching. “Ah, well if it isn’t the center of our celebration. Come, come, do tell if any of us can be of assistance.”

“Charlotte just wants a picture of all the archons in attendance today,” Aether said quickly as Kuni trailed behind her. “She’s right over there with my sister.”

“Ah, is that so? Then why don’t you come with me, Monsieur Neuvillette?”

The Iudex frowned and turned to the side. “All archons?”

“Well, the Tsarista, Barbatos and Rex Lapis obviously aren’t here today, but the rest of you Charlotte would like an image of.”

He nodded and walked away with Furina. Kuni turned to Aether and narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have the archons of Liyue and Snezhnaya here as well, do you?”

“Oh, goodness no. Just the former archon of Liyue.”

“What?”

“Did you need me for something?”

Aether almost laughed as Kuni jumped. Zhongli stood next to them with his hands clasped behind his back. “Honey, let me introduce you to Zhongli, a consultant at the Wangsheng Parlor in Liyue. He’s also Xiao’s father.”

“He is not,” Xiao protested as he appeared beside Aether.

He snickered. “I’m surprised you’re even still here. I thought you would have gone home after the dinner.”

“You’re the one who’s always insisting that I should relax more and have fun.”

Aether smiled. “And I’m glad you are. Thank you for coming.”

He nodded, then looked down at their hands. “Is that not… inconvenient?”

Kuni just grabbed Aether’s hand again and shook it at Xiao. “If I had to be burdened with the pain of socializing without having this dork at my side at all times, I would have already mysteriously disappeared from the party.”

Xiao chuckled. “I see. He does tend to make this sort of thing less arduous.”

“Xiao, I believe Lumine and Ganyu are looking for you,” Zhongli said softly.

“I’ll go find them. As long as Aether doesn’t go around telling any more absurd lies, we should be fine.”

“No promises.”

Xiao narrowed his eyes, but disappeared anyway. Zhongli shook his head before turning to them. “I do need to thank the two of you for your work in the Chasm and for saving Xiao as you escaped that chaotic space.”

“Uh…” Aether swallowed. “You knew about that?”

“Xiao requested my permission to investigate the fate of Bosacius,” Zhongli explained calmly. “I sensed a disturbance and went to the Chasm to see what was happening. But lo and behold, I felt a surge of electro energy and you escaped just fine. Knowing Xiao’s… tendencies, I worried about the likelihood of his survival. But thanks to you, he’s still with us today, enjoying your wedding. Thank you.”

Kuni nodded. “Think nothing of it. I was happy to help.”

“My gratitude all the same. Congratulations on your union. Please excuse me.”

Aether nodded as Zhongli walked away and looked down at Kuni. “Hey honey, how are you doing?”

“Getting a bit tired. But I’ve got you with me, so I’ll be fine. Let’s keep going.”

And so they did, methodically making their way around the grounds and chatting with everyone in attendance. Short conversation, running this way and that, occasionally getting dragged into another picture taken by Charlotte. Aether smiled so much he thought his cheeks were going to fall off. By the time the stars began to appear in the sky, it felt like he was running out of breath even though he had time in between his conversations. Kuni’s sentences got shorter and he resorted to nodding silently and humming in acknowledgement or agreement a lot of the time, but they stayed social and amicable the entire way around.

That being said, when they heard the bells that signalled the start of the fireworks show, Aether felt nothing but relief. They slipped away to a patch of grass in the front of the audience and Kuni leaned his head on Aether’s shoulder. “Are you ready to go on our honeymoon?” he asked as he rubbed circles into Aether’s hand.

“Yeah. Are you?”

“I just want to be alone with you.”

Aether laughed and then looked up as he heard the sound of the first firework taking off into the sky. “Oh wow.” He already knew, but fireworks really did look better at night bursts of brilliant gold and vibrant purple were so much more striking against the black of night than the blue of noon. It was also so much more exhilarating and rewarding to watch them with his husband at his side. Oh gods. One day, the thrill of calling Kuni his husband would wear off but it was not going to be anytime soon.

Yoimiya’s final firework was  a massive burst of white and purple sparks that decorated the sky in a way that rivaled the stars. Aether was left in silent awe for several moments before Kuni elbowed him and he remembered to applaud.

Once the applause died, Aether and Kuni stood up and turned to face all their guests. They waited until Yoimiya had rejoined everyone else before bowing one final time. They walked down to the shore, where a waverider was waiting to take them to the Alcor. They got in and sighed with relief as they disappeared from sight.

Once they arrived at the docks, they slipped onto the Alcor and waved to all the crew before slipping down to their assigned room. Somewhat reluctantly, they untied the rope binding them together before less reluctantly undressing, hanging their kimonos in bags before leaving them to hang. Aether very thoroughly wiped makeup off of his face to avoid getting anything on the sheets. Then Kuni finally helped him through the arduous process of taking his hair down before it went up in a simple ponytail.

Once they had gotten dressed in their sleeping clothes, they laid down on the bed set up for them. With the pressure finally off his feet and his husband finally in his arms as they drifted off to sleep, Aether couldn’t help one last smile from crossing his face.