This Side of Paradise (Aeventi) (finished)

7 - "Accompany me to Xiangling's party, will you?"

3rd Person Omniscient

"AETHER!" Lumine yelled to her brother, "come on, aren't we walking together?"

"Lumine I have no time- I have to talk to Venti and then meet Ayaka at the university entrance and go to the café with her she's waiting for me-"

"You're really leaving a lady waiting? Aether..."

"Five minutes! That's all she'll be waiting for...I'll talk to you later, Lumine!" Aether sped off, not paying attention to Lumine's facepalm at her brother's stupidity.

Aether found Venti and approached him, "So you needed to speak to me?"

Venti turned around to properly speak to Aether, and thought for a second on what he exactly wanted to say.

After some thinking, he finally got it.

"So Aether, you know how Xiangling is having her big party on Christmas Eve?" Aether nodded, and Venti continued, "Well, would you like to go with me?"

Aether didn't even think, happily agreeing, "Is that all you needed, Venti?"

Venti nodded, and Aether sped off without another word, waving while running.

Venti let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, putting his back against a locker and smiling like an idiot.

"Now Venti what did I say-"

"SHUT UP XIAO."

"Fine, fine." Xiao suppressed a laugh at Venti's obvious flamed cheeks when yelling at him.

Aether finally met Ayaka back at the university entrance, and smiled to her. She returned a smile of her own, and the two began walking to the café, making small talk as they went along.

"So Ayaka...what made you wanna ask to see me like this?" Aether asked, genuinely curious.

"You were helpful to me during my transfer to a new, larger university...think of it as a thank you." Ayaka lied, but Aether seemed satisfied with the answer, and changed the subject.

"I think you're going to like it at Teyvat University...everyone's pretty nice, aside from a select few. Whatever you do, don't accept a training request from Tartaglia, he gets pretty intense. Venti, Xiangling, my sister Lumine, her girlfriend Fischl, Bennett, Razor, etc are all pretty good people, though I guess you could just talk to me and the people I'm around if you really wanted." Aether explained.

"Thank you, Aether," Ayaka began, "I'll be sure to talk to some of the people you mentioned."

Aether held the door open for Ayaka as the two entered the café, closing it behind her.

"Do you want anything?" Aether asked, approaching the counter and pulling out his wallet.

"Hm...maybe a (enter oddly specific drink idfk) if you wouldn't mind." Aether nodded, and Ayaka sat down at a nearby table to wait.

(A/N I'll have a mocha caramel latte-chino, made with skim milk, no whipped cream, please put that in a grande cup...but use the same amount of coffee that you'd put into a tall, that way there's about an inch of extra room on top to stir in my own nutmeg without spilling any coffee at all- please tell me I'm not the only one who knows that)

Aether thanked the baristas after placing the order, and sat next to Ayaka to wait.

"Isn't it overwhelming?" Aether asked, looking to the side.

Ayaka let out a confused noise, and Aether turned to face her before continuing, "It was overwhelming for me when I started this school...so I'm wondering if you also feel overwhelmed."