Risk It All For You (Thoma x Ayato)

Chapter 7: The Festival

It was now day 3 since Ayato had begun looking for his future wife. He had been anticipating this day, he planned out a festival just for this occasion. It is not as grand as he hoped it would have been due to it being created on short notice but it still came out wonderfully.

Everyone arrived that morning at the entrance to the festival. As always Ayato gave another welcoming speech.

"Good morning, once again thank you for joining us again. Today I have organized a small festival for you all to enjoy, now let us enter and have some fun" Ayato announced.

Once everyone made their way into the festival, Ayato pulled Thoma to the side for a quick chat.

"So Thoma, this is your first time every experiencing a festival like this correct?" Ayato questioned.

"Yes, it looks wonderful so far" Thoma responded.

"I'll be glad to give you a proper tour once I'm done speaking to everyone" Ayato said.

"That would be great" Thoma replied.

Everyone was excited to see what the festival had in store for them. There were many different stalls including fun games, food, and more. Ayato scanned the area for anyone he can talk to and saw Kujou Sara sitting and enjoying some food, he decided to join her.

"How are you today Kujou Sara?" He asked.

"Wonderful, this festival is amazing, and so is the food" Kujou Sara said.

The two began to talk for a little while getting to know each other more and more.

"Tell me more about the Shougun" Ayato said, "what is it like to work for her?"

"Well it is a very hard job, a lot of dedication required. You must be ready for anyth-"

Before Kujou Sara could continue her sentence she was cut off by Beidou.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt I just wanted to thank Ayato for the amazing food options we have here" Beidou said, "just come look at this"

Ayato stood up and apologized to Kujou Sara before following Beidou to a food stall.

"All of these dishes are wonderful, my personal favorite is the third one right here" Beidou said as she pointed to a dish.

"Yes that is a nice choice, glad you enjoy the food" Ayato responded, "you seem to having much more fun here than any of our previous events"

"Yes this is much more my style, I enjoy these kind of events" Beidou responded.

"I see, so you're a people's person" Ayato said.

"Very much so, I have many friends and connections all across Teyvat" Beidou said.

"Impressive, that would be an incredible asset to have if I were to choose you" Ayato said, "not saying I would choose you just for that, of course you have many other interesting aspects- I mean you yourself are interesting."

Ayato let out a small sigh of defeat. In return Beidou let out a small laugh.

"Don't worry about it, I understand what you mean. Now go on and talk to everyone else, I want to try that game" Beidou said.

As Beidou suggested, Ayato continued to walk around and talk to the other guests. Afterwards he enjoyed the festival himself. The festival ran from the morning late into the night but eventually everyone began to get tired and return home for the day.

"This has by far been the best event you have ever planned Ayato, I've had so much fun but now I'm exhausted" Ayaka said, "I'll meet up with you later"

Ayato walked through the festival and found Thoma near the entrance.

"There you are, I hope you didn't forget about that tour I mentioned" Ayato said.

Thoma was standing against the wall looking bored and tired but perked up once he heard Ayato.

"Of course I remembered, I've been waiting here for you" Thoma responded.

"Great then let's begin" Ayato said.

Ayato led Thoma through the festival, they enjoyed many games together and visited some of the food stalls. They came across the same stall Beidou had mentioned earlier.

"Wow this stall has amazing food" Thoma said in awe.

"Yes they have many great dishes, which is your favorite?" Ayato asked.

"Hmm, I say the third one right here" Thoma said.

"Oh that is one of my favorite dishes, you have some good taste" Ayato said.

The two continued exploring more of the festival before Ayato stopped to tell Thoma something.

"There is one last thing that I'd like to see before we leave, originally this was for everyone but they all left early" Ayato said, leading Thoma up a hill, "now if my timing is correct it should start right about now"

A second after, fireworks began to shoot into the sky with a wonderful display of colors. Thoma had never seen something extravagant before. Ayato glanced down to where Yoimiya was setting off fireworks, he gave her a thankful smile. While Thoma stared into the sky, Ayato stared at Thoma. His excitement made him feel happy.

"It's absolutely beautiful" Thoma said.

"It sure is" Ayato said as he continued to look at him.

Thoma looked back at Ayato and saw him looking at him, but continued to keep looking.

"Thank you for bringing me to see this, it's been so fun hanging out with you" Thoma said.

"I couldn't be more thankful than to spend my night with you Thoma" Ayato said.

They continued to look at each with thoughtful smiles, slowly they moved closer and closer, their faces almost touching. Suddenly someone called out.

"Ayato where are you? It's getting late" Ayaka called out

The two men quickly snapped back to reality and turned around. Ayaka had just made her way up the hill, just a second before she could see the position the two men were in.

"There you are I was wondering where you were, I heard these fireworks and made my way over here" Ayaka said, "we need to head home"

"Ah yes sorry, I promised Thoma earlier that I would give him a tour of the festival, I must have forgotten the time" Ayato said sheepishly.

Ayato followed Ayaka back down the path, Thoma was to stunned at the situation to follow after. He stayed on the hill for a little while longer before leaving to.

"How dare you not tell me that there was going to be fireworks" Ayaka said.

"I'm sorry I had forgotten about them, I promise they were supposed to be for everyone but they all had left" Ayato said.

Ayato's heart was racing, he couldn't believe what was about to happen. No, nothing was going to happen, it was probably just a mistake, surely nothing was going on, right?